Israeli Forces Raid Balata Refugee Camp Near Nablus, Injuring 19 Palestinians and Arresting a Young Man

Israeli forces raided the Balata refugee camp east of Nablus in the northern West Bank on Sunday morning, injuring 19 Palestinians with live bullets and tear gas while arresting a young man after they besieged a house.

“West Bank – Civilians were injured during the Israeli army's raid on the Balata refugee camp near Nablus in the northern West Bank, and the besieging of one of the wanted persons”

Al-Jazeera Net

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its crews treated 19 injuries during the raid, including two young men hit by live bullets in the foot and thigh, a 14-year-old boy hit by shrapnel to the head, and an elderly man hit by rubber bullets in the neck, plus 15 cases of tear gas inhalation.

Al-Jazeera Net

The same account said ambulances were prevented from reaching a patient inside the camp while attempts were made to coordinate with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Eyewitnesses to Anadolu Agency said the raid involved heavily armed military vehicles from several fronts, triggering violent clashes with Palestinian youths.

The raid was described as part of a series of escalating Israeli attacks in the West Bank, with the Stop the Wall and Settlements Commission saying the army and settlers carried out 1,659 assaults in May.

On Sunday, Israeli forces entered the Balata refugee camp near Nablus before noon and besieged a house, demanding that its resident surrender and threatening—according to residents—to blow up or strike the house if the wanted person did not surrender.

Al-Jazeera Net said the Palestinian Red Crescent treated a 14-year-old boy with a shrapnel wound from live ammunition and emergency teams affiliated with Medical Relief treated another shrapnel injury to an 18-year-old, in addition to several cases of asphyxia from tear gas.

Anadolu Ajansı

The same report said Israeli forces fired live rounds at journalists while soldiers spread in the market area in the center of the camp, and it described the Duvdevan unit as operating with the accompaniment of a drone to arrest a wanted person who refused to surrender.

Before withdrawing, the forces arrested the young man Mohammad Al-Khatib, the wanted person who had been besieged, and another young man named Samer Abu Mustafa.

In parallel, the report said Israeli authorities forced two brothers to demolish their home in the al-Tur neighborhood of Jerusalem and that the governorate said Israeli authorities forced the brothers Nabil Abu Jum’a and Sami Abu Jum’a to carry out a self-demolition.

A separate report on Sunday said Israeli forces stormed Balata Camp and injured 19 Palestinians with live bullets and tear gas while arresting a young man, and it placed the raid within an escalation in the West Bank.

“Young Wassim Nasser Abu Khalifa, from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, was killed during violent clashes after the incursion of a massive Israeli military operation into this West Bank city”

France Palestine Solidarité

Yeni Şafak | West Asian cited the Stop the Wall and Settlements Commission saying that since Oct. 8, 2023, the Israeli escalation in the West Bank has killed 1,169 Palestinians and injured 12,666 others, in addition to the arrests of about 23,000 and the displacement of 33,000.

The same report said raids and near-daily arrests continue in West Bank cities and their camps, while Anadolu Ajansı said the Israeli army has been conducting military operations in the northern West Bank since last month.

Anadolu Ajansı reported that the operations had killed at least 63 people and displacing thousands more, and it said that since the start of the offensive against the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, at least 926 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

It also added that in July the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel's long-standing occupation of the Palestinian territories was 'illegal', calling for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.