9 killed in Israel West Bank raid

GBNEWS24DESK//

An Israeli raid on the occupied West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp Thursday killed nine Palestinians including an elderly woman, Palestinian officials said, also accusing the forces of using tear gas inside a hospital children’s ward.

The death toll rose to “nine martyrs including an elderly woman,” the health ministry said, with multiple wounded.

In a separate statement, Palestinian health minister Mai al-Kaila charged that “occupation forces stormed Jenin Government Hospital and intentionally fired tear gas canisters at the paediatric department in the hospital”.

She described the situation in the refugee camp as “critical” and said Israeli forces were preventing ambulances from reaching the wounded.

Israel’s army declined to comment when asked by AFP about the health minister’s tear gas allegation.

The military has said only that its “forces are operating in Jenin”.

Thursday’s fatalities bring the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank so far this year to 29, including fighters and civilians, most of whom were shot by Israeli forces.

Jenin deputy governor Kamal Abu al-Rub told AFP that residents were living in a “real state of war”.

“The Israeli army is destroying everything and shooting at everything that moves,” he told AFP.

The mounting toll follows the deadliest year in the Palestinian territory since United Nations records began in 2005.