Israeli forces martyr three Palestinians during refugee camp raid

Palestine said Monday that Israeli forces martyred three Palestinians during a raid conducted in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, which the Israeli military termed a “counterterrorism operation”.

The Palestinian health ministry said in a statement that the three men martyred in the Balata camp in Nablus were identified as Muhammad Abu Zaytoun, 32, Fathi Abu Rizk, 30, and Abdullah Abu Hamdan, 24.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party’s media wing said in a statement that the three people were among the group’s members.

During their burial, the bodies of the martyred Palestinians were shrouded in the Palestinian flag.

According to the Israeli military, it had shot several fighters when a gun battle erupted during a counterterrorism operation.

It went on to say that during the operation, “armed suspects fired at the soldiers, who responded with live fire. Hits were identified.”

It apprehended three “wanted individuals suspected of involvement in terrorist activity”, adding that weapons and ammunition were seized.

The spokesperson of the Palestinian president Nabil Abu Rudeineh described the killings as a “veritable massacre” and charged that repeated Israeli raids and attacks by settlers constituted a “major war crime and a collective punishment”.

He said that “silence from the United States had emboldened Israelis to escalate attacks,” calling Washington to immediately intervene to stop the “Israeli madness that will drag the region toward the explosion”.