Israeli forces kill two Palestinians in overnight Jenin raid
Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians during an overnight army raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday.
Mohammed Ayman al-Saadi, 26, and Naeem Jamal al-Zubaidi, 27, were killed in armed clashes that erupted in the city just after 2am local time following a large incursion by Israeli troops into the city.
The Jenin Brigade, a local armed group made up mainly of Islamic Jihad members, said al-Saadi was a field commander and al-Zubaidi was a senior leader in the group.
They became the seventh and eighth Palestinians to be killed in the West Bank in the last 72 hours.
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The Israeli army said it entered the town of Wadi Burqin near Jenin refugee camp to arrest three Palestinians then came under fire before responding with gunshots and “hits were identified”.
A general strike has been announced in Jenin to mourn the two fighters.
Israeli forces conduct raid-and-arrest operations across the West Bank on a near-nightly basis and they often lead to the wounding or killing of Palestinians.
On Wednesday, Mohammad Tawfiq Badarnah was killed in an afternoon raid in the town of Yabad west of Jenin.
A day earlier, five Palestinians were shot dead in separate incidents in the West Bank, including two brothers.
This week’s deaths come amid a spike in Israeli violence against Palestinians in the West Bank this year and a resurgence of Palestinian armed resistance.
Israeli forces and settlers have killed 158 Palestinians, including at least 30 children, in the West Bank in 2022, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
It is the deadliest on a monthly average for Palestinians since the UN began recording fatalities in 2005.
A further 49 Palestinians were killed during an Israeli bombardment of Gaza in August.
Meanwhile, 29 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed by Palestinians in the same period, the highest number since 2008.
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