By Awad Rjoub and Rania Abu Shamala
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) — The Israeli army carried out raids in several Palestinian areas across the West Bank, injuring three children with live bullets.
The raids were concentrated in Nablus, northern West Bank, sparking clashes that also resulted in several cases of suffocation due to tear gas inhalation, according to an Anadolu correspondent.
Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli soldiers stormed the town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus, leading to confrontations with Palestinian residents. During the clashes, Israeli forces fired live bullets and tear gas grenades.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a brief statement that its teams transported three children to the hospital after they were shot with live ammunition during the clashes.
The organization confirmed that the injuries were in the legs and affected children aged 14, 15, and 16.
In the southern West Bank, the Israeli army stormed Al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron, where its soldiers brutally assaulted a disabled Palestinian man.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that Israeli forces raided the center of the camp, opening fire with live bullets and tear gas grenades, while also chasing, dragging, and assaulting Yahya al-Balasi, a man with disabilities.
The Israeli army has been conducting operations in the northern West Bank since Jan. 21, killing at least 64 people and displacing thousands.
Palestinian authorities have warned that the continued military offensive is part of a broader plan by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to annex the West Bank and declare sovereignty over it, which could officially mark the end of the two-state solution.
The raids were the latest in the military escalation in the West Bank, where at least 927 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since the start of the onslaught against the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The International Court of Justice declared in July that Israel’s long-standing occupation of Palestinian territories is "unlawful," demanding the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.