A Palestinian teenager was killed on Thursday during raids from Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank as the military was pursuing targets allegedly linked to a soldier’s killing.
The Palestinian health ministry identified the victim as Uday Salah, 17, saying he was “killed by a bullet to the head fired by the Israeli occupation soldiers in Kafr Dan, Jenin governorate”, an area that has seen near-daily violence in recent months.
The Israeli army said its forces were “mapping out the homes of the terrorists who killed Major Bar Falah”, who was shot dead at a checkpoint north of Jenin in pre-dawn clashes on Wednesday. Two Pal-estinians, Ahmed Abed and Abdul Rahman Abed, also died in Wednesday’s violence.
The army added that the aim of the mapping ex-ercise was “to examine the possibility of demolishing the residences of the terrorists”, who killed Falah, part of Israel’s controversial practice of destroying the homes of Palestinian fighters accused of deadly attacks.
“During the mapping process, armed suspects hurled explosive devices and Molotov cocktails and fired toward the soldiers,” the statement said.
“In response, the soldiers fired toward the sus-pects. Hits were identified.” Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that soldiers had raided the family homes of both Ahmed and Abdul Rahman, and arrested “Amer Taha Abed, who is the cousin of the martyr Ahmed Abed”.
The army said that “two suspects were appre-hended for assisting the terrorists who shot Major Bar Falah,” adding that six more suspects were ar-rested in other West Bank locations.
Hamas “saluted” the “heroes of Jenin who fought tonight”, praising Palestinians who “stand up to the daily raids by the occupation throughout the occupied West Bank.”—AFP
