Friday, April 12, 2024

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Israeli forces kill 2 in West Bank: Palestinian agency


Tubas (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians early Friday in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, but the military said it "eliminated" two militants including a Hamas member.

Issued on: 12/04/2024 - 
Palestinians check a bullet-riddled car following the raid by Israeli forces near Tubas in the occupied West Bank
 © Zain JAAFAR / AFP


One man was killed when Israeli soldiers opened fire on his vehicle in the city of Tubas, Wafa reported.

Another Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli gunfire when troops raided Al-Fara refugee camp near Tubas, the agency said.

Israel's military, contacted by AFP, said its forces had killed Mohammad Omar Draghmeh, and described him as "a central figure" in planning Hamas attacks.

"During the counter-terrorism activity, the terrorist shot at security forces who responded with fire and eliminated him," the military said, adding that troops found weapons in his vehicle.

Soldiers in the Tubas area also came under attack and returned fire, the army said. One militant was killed and two wanted suspects were arrested.

The area around Tubas in the northern West Bank is a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups and the frequent target of Israeli military incursions.

The West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has seen a surge in violence since early last year, particularly since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in Gaza on October 7.

At least 461 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers across the West Bank since October 7, according to official Palestinian sources.

The war in the Gaza Strip erupted after Hamas's unprecedented attack on southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,634 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

© 2024 AFP


TARGETED
Over 60 members of Gaza family killed in separate Israeli strikes

Gaza Strip (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Gaza's Tabatibi family is in mourning for the second time in less than a month, after separate Israeli bombardments on buildings they were sheltering in killed more than 60 of their kin.


Issued on: 12/04/2024 - 
The rubble of the Tabatibi family home after it was struck last month
 © - / AFP/File

The latest strike occurred in the early hours of Friday in Gaza City's densely populated Daraj neighbourhood, killing at least 25 members of the family, a relative told AFP.

In a narrow street, the six-storey building where the Tabatibi family had been staying was still standing on Friday, balconies barely hanging to its facade, the ground floor charred and its inside strewn with rubble.

"We didn't hear a missile come down or anything, we were all asleep", Khaled al-Tabatibi, a surviving member of the family, told AFP.

"Our house, my sisters, their children, their daughters, all of them are martyred, all of them are in pieces," he said through tears.

"When the occupation aircraft bombed the house, we were asleep. We don't know why they targeted the house, it's a massacre, annihilation."

Ziyad Dardas, a neighbour whose brother was injured in the strike, was at a loss for words.

"This is madness, this is the peak of crime from our leaders and Israeli leaders", he told AFP.

"To the (Palestinian) Authority, to Hamas leaders, I say why is this not enough?"

The dead and injured were reportedly taken to Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital, which was mostly destroyed in a recent Israeli military operation.
House bombed 'while we were in it'

The Tabatibi family, which has been displaced by Israeli bombardments on several occasions, had already been in mourning.

On March 15, the family had gathered in central Gaza to eat together during the first Friday night of Ramadan, a reunion that soon turned into a bloodbath.

An air strike hit the building where they were staying as women prepared the pre-fasting meal, killing 36 members of the family, witnesses told AFP at the time.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which provided the same death toll, blamed Israel for the strike in the city's Nuseirat area, as did survivors.

Asked about that strike, the Israeli military said it targeted two "terror operatives" in Nuseirat "throughout the night," without elaborating.

"They bombed the house while we were in it. My mother and my aunt were preparing the suhoor food. They were all martyred," Mohammed al-Tabatibi said at the time at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, before the bodies of his relatives were stacked on a truck to be driven to a cemetery.

The war in Gaza erupted with Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign to destroy Hamas has killed at least 33,634 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

© 2024 AFP

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