Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians when heavy clashes erupted yesterday during an operation to destroy the West Bank home of an alleged attacker, the latest in a series of punitive demolitions.
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Clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian demonstrators erupted in a West Bank refugee camp before dawn Monday after Israeli forces arrived to demolish the home of a Palestinian militant, leaving two Palestinians dead.
The Israeli military said troops entered Qalandia to demolish the home of a Palestinian who it says shot and killed an Israeli in the West Bank this summer.
The Palestinians opened fire at the force and “in response to the immediate danger, forces fired toward the attackers”, the statement said.
Almost 90 Palestinians and 13 Israelis have been killed in the recent escalation of violence since the start of October. Palestinian officials say one Palestinian at the scene was taken into Israeli custody.
Laith Assad Munasra, age 21, and Ahmad Abu al Aish, age 28, were killed as fierce clashes broke out to protest the invasion of hundreds of Israeli soldiers into the Ramallah-area refugee camp, home to over 10,000 residents.
A tense calm settled over the camp after Israeli forces withdrew, as dozens of young men came to inspect Abu Shaheen’s destroyed home and the damage surrounding it.
Three of the homes were destroyed in Nablus, in the northern West Bank, and the other in Silwad, northeast of Ramallah.
Palestinian Media Watch, the media monitoring group that initially translated the article, also highlighted an image equating Israel with ISIS that was posted Saturday on the official Facebook page of Fatah, the political party headed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
The violence has killed 82 Palestinians, an Arab Israeli and 12 Israelis.
Israeli security services arrested the perpetrator of the attacks on the Litman family.
“We urge the authorities to carry out independent, thorough, prompt and impartial investigations into all suspected cases of extra-judicial, arbitrary and summary executions, and to provide compensation to the victims or their families”, the United Nations experts said.
Israel recently revived the tactic of house demolitions, after a break of a decade, because of questions about its effectiveness as a deterrent and amid human rights concerns. A number of people were injured, said the Health Ministry.
One-hour firefight Defence minister Moshe Ya’alon defended the actions of the soldiers during the one-hour firefight.
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After noon prayer on Monday, thousands of Palestinians joined the funeral march to the camp cemetery with the two bodies of those killed the night before.
