Palestinian killed, 5 injured by Israeli attacks in occupied West Bank

RAMALLAH, Palestine/ISTANBUL

A Palestinian was shot dead Saturday and five others injured by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank.

“The General Authority for Civil Affairs (liaison body with Israel) informed us of the martyrdom of Nael Samara (36), who was shot by Israeli forces in the town of Bruqin this afternoon,” said the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Before that statement, the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported that “Israeli forces opened fire on a young man in the Al-Balata area of Bruqin, wounding him—though the nature of the injuries was initially unknown—before detaining him while he was injured.”

Bruqin Mayor Faeed Sabrah told Anadolu that the Israeli army continued to storm the town, stationing troops on streets and neighborhoods, and converting several homes into military outposts after confining residents to a single room and preventing them from leaving.

He added that the army was conducting field interrogations of youngsters in the town, which has a population of around 5,000.

Additionally, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its teams transferred a 37-year-old man to the hospital from the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, who was shot in the thigh.

And in the northern West Bank, the humanitarian organization reported that its teams transported two people injured by live bullets during clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli army in the town of Burqa in northwestern Nablus.

The first injured person was a 17-year-old boy who was shot in the hand, while the second was a 13-year-old child also hit by live fire in the hand, according to a statement.

In a separate statement, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said teams transported a 2-year-old girl to a hospital in the southern West Bank city of Hebron after she was struck on the head by an illegal Israeli settler in the Old City.

The non-governmental Human Rights Defenders group said the child, Sarah Dana, was attacked while walking with her mother near the Shuhada Street military checkpoint.

“A group of settlers was present, and one of them violently kicked the child in the head, causing her to fall to the ground. She was later taken to the hospital with bruises,” according to a statement.

It noted that “Israeli occupation soldiers did not intervene at the time of the assault to stop the settler.”

At least 968 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank since the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023, according to official Palestinian figures.

The International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land illegal last July, and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.