ALWAGHT- Israeli forces have fatally shot a young Palestinian man in the southern West Bank amid ongoing deadly assaults across the occupied territory.
Israeli forces fatally shot 19-year-old Abdullah Murad Farroukh during a raid in Sa'ir, northeast of al-Khalil, on Tuesday evening, according to WAFA. A 22-year-old man and a 10-year-old girl were also wounded during confrontations that followed the military attack. After killing Farroukh, Israeli forces raided his family home in what has been described as collective punishment. Meanwhile, Israeli troops arrested multiple Palestinians, including two women in Tulkarm and others in al-Khalil, Ramallah, Nablus, and Beit Fajjar as part of ongoing military operations.
The Israeli military launched a major offensive in the occupied West Bank on January 21, just two days after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. This operation has displaced more than 35,000 Palestinians from Jenin, Tulkarm, and Far’a refugee camps. The United Nations reports that 90% of residents in Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps have been forced to flee. The UNRWA describes the Jenin camp as a “ghost town”, while the UN human rights office has warned that killings and home demolitions indicate ongoing violations of international law.
Amid the military escalation, Israel has begun constructing a new illegal settlement, Nahal Hilts, on Palestinian land in Battir, near Bethlehem. According to Moayad Shaaban, head of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, the settlement was approved in response to global recognition of the Palestinian state last year. More than 770,000 Israeli settlers now live in settlements built on occupied Palestinian land since 1967, despite their illegality under international law and United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibiting settlement expansion.
