ShareTURMUS AYYA: A Palestinian man was killed Wednesday in an occupied West Bank village, as Zionists attacked residents and property in escalating violence. The reprisals came hours after Palestinians buried a girl killed in a Zionist raid. “A martyr arrived at the Palestine Medical Complex from Turmus Ayya after being shot in the chest,” a Palestinian health ministry statement said. Lafi Adeeb, Turmus Ayya mayor, told AFP that 35 houses were damaged, around 50 cars torched and farmland set ablaze. “We in Turmus Ayya are targeted – after day after day — by the aggressive (settler) outposts that were established here,” he told AFP.
He and another resident put the number of Zionists involved in the attack between 200 and 300, while AFP journalists in the village saw scorched homes, buildings and wounded people being evacuated by ambulance. “Settlers shot at us and when the police and the (Zionist) army arrived they shot at us with rubber bullets and fired tear gas,” resident Awad Abu Samra told AFP. The Zionist military said security forces entered Turmus Ayya “to extinguish the fires, prevent clashes and to collect evidence” after “(Zionist) civilians burned vehicles and possessions belonging to Palestinians”.
Twelve people were wounded in Turmus Ayya, the Palestinian health ministry said. In Jenin, girls in school uniform carried the body of their classmate killed in a Zionist army raid on the city on Monday. Sadil Naghnaghiya, 15, died from gunshot wounds suffered during the hours-long Zionist incursion, the Palestinian health ministry said on Wednesday. Six other Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy and a militant, were killed in the raid. A spokesman for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Hazem Qassem, described Tuesday’s attack against Zionists as a “response to the crimes of the (Zionist) occupation” in Jenin and elsewhere.
A statement from the office of Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the government would fast-track settlement expansion at Eli in response to the attack. The Zionist entity has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967. Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, the territory is now home to around 490,000 Zionists who live in settlements considered illegal under international law. Anti-settlement organization Peace Now said Netanyahu’s announcement was intended “to appease fervent and fanatic settlers”, while Palestinians “are already suffering the consequences of such decisions, with their villages being subjected to attacks and burnings”.
The deadly shooting sparked reprisal attacks reported Tuesday in multiple Palestinian towns in the northern West Bank, including Huwara, Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya and Beit Furik. Several dozen people were wounded, the Palestinian Red Crescent said. The army said Wednesday that overnight its forces entered the Palestinian village of Orif which was home to the gunmen in the latest incident. Zionist forces arrested three “wanted people” in Orif and went to “map the homes” of the shooters, a precursor to their demolition, a statement said. The Zionist entity routinely demolishes the residences of Palestinians it blames for deadly attacks on Zionists. Human rights activists say the policy amounts to collective punishment, as it can render non-combatants, including children, homeless. – AFP
