Israel kills Palestinian youth in West Bank raids, expands settlements amid escalation

Israeli military forces have shot dead a young Palestinian man in the southern part of the West Bank, as the regime forces continue to expand their deadly assaults across the occupied territory.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing medical sources at Al-Ahli Hospital in the city of al-Khalil, reported that 19-year-old Abdullah Murad Farroukh succumbed to critical injuries after being shot by Israeli forces during a raid on Sa'ir town, located 8 kilometers (4.9 miles) northeast of al-Khalil, on Tuesday evening.

Additionally, a 22-year-old man and a 10-year-old girl sustained gunshot wounds during confrontations that broke out following the Israeli military’s attack on the town.

Following the extrajudicial killing of Farroukh, Israeli forces stormed his family home, further traumatizing his loved ones in a cruel act of collective punishment.

In related developments, Israeli forces detained two women from their homes in the city of Tulkarm, and made “large-scale” arrests in the Arroub refugee camp, near al-Khalil.

WAFA news agency, citing local sources, reported that four people were arrested in the town of Abwein, while one was detained in the village of al-Mazraa al-Gharbiya, northwest of Ramallah.

Israeli troops also rounded up a Palestinian man in the village of Burqa, two brothers in the town of Beita, south of Nablus, and two more people in the eastern area of Nablus as well as the town of Beit Fajjar.

The Israeli military launched a large-scale offensive in the occupied West Bank on January 21, just two days after a Gaza ceasefire deal between the Tel Aviv regime and Hamas came into effect.

The onslaught has resulted in the displacement of more than 35,000 Palestinians from the Jenin, Tulkarm and Far’a refugee camps.

MSF reports deterioration of healthcare in occupied West Bank

A recently released report by ‘Doctors Without Borders’ (MSF) highlights the deterioration of healthcare services in the occupied West Bank.

According to the United Nations, some 90 percent of the residents of the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps have been forced to flee.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says displacement and destruction in the Jenin camp have turned the area into a “ghost town,” while the UN human rights office says the killings and the demolition of homes “indicate ongoing violations of international law.”

Israel builds new illegal settlement in West Bank amid escalation

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities have started construction of a new settlement in the West Bank amid military escalation in the occupied territory.

Moayad Shaaban, who heads the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, said the illegal Nahal Hilts settlement is being built on Palestinian land in the village of Battir, located 6.4 kilometers (3.9 miles) west of Bethlehem.

 “Israel approved the construction of the new settlement in response to global recognition of the Palestinian state last year,” he added in a statement.

Over 770,000 Israelis live in settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds, according to the latest figures released by the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, a Palestinian Authority agency.

While all Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, the Tel Aviv regime keeps expanding them in blatant violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

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