(Ramallah) Two Palestinians were killed Monday by Israeli forces near Ramallah, in the center of the occupied West Bank, the scene of the deadliest violence in nearly seven years according to UN and AFP data.
Posted at 9:07
The two Palestinians, suspected by the Israeli army of having attempted to carry out a car-ramming attack, were “shot” by soldiers near the Jalazoun refugee camp, located just outside Ramallah.
According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, they are Bassel Basbous, 19, and Khaled Anbar, 21. A third, Raafat Habash, 19, was seriously injured.
Khaled Anbar’s mother told AFP that her son had been “executed” by the soldiers.
“They could have stopped them, why shoot them? “, she said, assuring that her son and his comrades had no intention of committing an attack.
An AFP team saw protesters burning tires and blocking a road on the spot after the deaths were announced.
The Israeli army said it opened fire and “neutralized two suspects” who “attempted” to carry out a ramming attack on soldiers in Jalazoun, after the arrest on the spot “of an individual suspected of terrorist activity “.
Following the death of these two Palestinians, a call for a general strike was launched in Ramallah, groups of young people patrolling the streets insisting that all businesses close for the day, according to an AFP journalist on the spot. .
The Israeli army has stepped up operations in the occupied West Bank in the wake of a wave of anti-Israeli attacks that have left 20 dead since mid-March. These operations, punctuated by clashes with the population and concentrated in the areas of Jenin and Nablus, in the north of the West Bank, also left dozens dead on the Palestinian side, including members of armed groups.
Since seven years
On September 20, the UN’s humanitarian aid coordination office (Ocha) estimated that 84 Palestinians from the West Bank had been killed since the beginning of the year by Israeli forces.
Since that date, ten other Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank according to an AFP tally.
This toll is the highest since a wave of violence in late 2015-early 2016 in the occupied West Bank.
On Sunday, Israeli State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman warned that the army’s logistics and supply chain could not keep pace with ongoing operations in the occupied West Bank.
“The Israeli army is carrying out a major operation in the West Bank and it must be understood that this operation could last for a long time,” he said, saying that these recommendations, aimed at “improving the logistical infrastructure for combat soldiers and reservists” demanded an “immediate” response from the authorities.
On Sunday, two gun attacks near the city of Nablus left two Israelis lightly injured, a motorist and an Israeli soldier.
The upsurge in violence in the West Bank comes as Israel prepares for new national elections on 1er November, and against a background of internal tensions in the Palestinian Territories, where many young people accuse the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas of not opposing the operations of the Israeli forces.