JERICHO: Zionist forces killed a Palestinian teenager and injured two other people in the West Bank Monday, the Palestinian health ministry said. Mohammed Fayez Balhan, 15, was killed after being shot “with live occupation (Zionist) bullets in the head, chest and abdomen”, the ministry said. An earlier statement said two people were injured by “occupation (Zionist) bullets”. The Zionist army confirmed its forces were operating in the Aqabat Jaber camp near Jericho.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had transferred one person to hospital with a bullet wound to the head. Clashes erupted when the army entered the camp and surrounded several houses, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa. A Palestinian security official told AFP that five individuals were arrested during the raid. The Zionist entity has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War and hundreds of thousands of Zionist settlers live in Zionist-approved settlements there, considered illegal under international law.

The Jericho raid came as hundreds of Zionists marched in the northern West Bank, pushing for state approval of a Zionist settler outpost. Several ministers — including Zionist far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — were expected to appear at the march to Eviatar, whose residents agreed to leave in 2021 while officials examined their case. Demonstrators of all ages waved Zionist flags as they rallied along closed-off roads, accompanied by a heavy security presence.

Rivka Katzir, a 74-year-old resident of Elkana, another West Bank settlement, told AFP “the one solution for this problem is if we settle this place”. The rising tension has bought widespread concern and calls for calm from across the region. On Wednesday, Zionist police stormed the prayer hall of Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, in a predawn raid The Aqabat Jaber camp has been the site of several deadly Zionist raids since the start of the year, notably in January when the Zionist entity said it killed five people in a single operation. – AFP