At least six Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military, making it the deadliest day of violence in the occupied West Bank this year.
Five were killed in the old city of Nablus during an Israeli raid, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. A sixth person was killed in Nabi Saleh, north of Ramallah, by Israeli live fire when Palestinian protestors took to the streets in response to the Nablus military operation. The raid in Nablus also left some 20 people injured, the ministry said.
Thousands of mourners turned out for the funeral procession of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces during a raid in Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank.
The Palestinians killed in the attack were Ali Khaled Antar, 26; Mishal Baghdadi, 27; Wadee al-Hawah, 31; Hamdi Qayyem, 30; and Hamdi Mohamed Sharaf, 35.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Tuesday’s killings as a “war crime” while calling on the United States to stop Israeli “aggression” in the West Bank before things “reach a very critical point”.
The Israeli army said that the raids were part of a major operation with police and intelligence officers targeting a location “used by the main operatives” of the group, describing the site as a “headquarters and a workshop for making weapons”.
Amnesty calls for investigation of possible war crimes
Amnesty International has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate possible war crimes following the “unlawful attacks” committed during Israel’s deadly assault on the Gaza Strip in August.
Amnesty International said that throughout the August offensive, Israeli authorities boasted about the precision of their operation yet the organization “found that victims of these ‘precise’ attacks included a four-year-old boy, a teenager visiting his mother’s grave, and a 22-year-old student at home with her family. The third attack, which killed seven Palestinian civilians, appears to have been caused by an unguided rocket launched by Palestinian armed groups.”
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said that“The three deadly attacks we examined must be investigated as war crimes; all victims of unlawful attacks and their families deserve justice and reparations.”
Amnesty added that Israel’s apartheid remains the root cause of Palestinians’ suffering and the recurring violations against them.