Israeli forces have fatally shot another Palestinian youth during an attack on a village located west of the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem.
According to Palestinian media, 20-year-old Zakaria Muhammad Zakaria al-Za’oul was seriously injured after Israeli forces’ live bullet hit him in the head during a Monday evening raid on Husan village.
عاجل| إصابة شاب برصاص الاحتلال خلال مواجهات في حوسان غرب بيت لحم. pic.twitter.com/6KpHNkYBMG
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) June 19, 2023
The head of the village council was quoted as saying that the Palestinian youth was hit after the regime’s forces attacked the village, firing live bullets as well as tear gas and sound bombs. After being injured by a headshot, Zakaria was taken to hospital for treatment, where he was later pronounced dead.
هتافات من أمام مشفى اليمامة في بيت لحم عقب الإعلان عن ارتقاء الشهيد زكريا الزعول. pic.twitter.com/uDWjiBtA9A
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) June 19, 2023
Palestinian media also reported that two other young men were wounded by Israeli forces’ bullets during the raid. One of them was hit in the neck and the other in the stomach, while a third youth was arrested, whose identity has not been identified yet.
لحظة نقل الإصابة الثانية خلال المواجهات العنيفة في بلدة حوسان غرب بيت لحم. pic.twitter.com/f0LpIjVkty
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) June 19, 2023
The new Israeli crime came after the regime’s forces killed at least five Palestinians and wounded dozens of others in heavy clashes with Palestinian resistance fighters during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
Israeli forces were backed by Apache helicopters in their raid on Jenin. The firing of missiles during the raid has been unprecedented in the past two decades.
According to Health Ministry officials, at least 66 Palestinians were wounded with live ammunition, several of whom in serious and critical condition, during the attack.
Tensions have been running high in the occupied West Bank over the past year, with the Israeli military conducting violent raids under the pretext of detaining what it calls wanted Palestinians.
As a result of these attacks, nearly 160 Palestinians, including 28 children, have lost their lives and many others have been arrested so far this year.
The regime’s forces have been also conducting near-nightly raids and killings in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, mainly in the cities of Jenin and Nablus, where new groups of Palestinian resistance fighters have been formed.
An official with the Palestine Liberation Organization has condemned the regime's latest practices as "an open war" waged on Palestinians.