BURQAH, Palestinian Territories: Mourners on Saturday attended the funeral of a Palestinian killed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, after the UN warned of a dramatic spike in such cases.
The Palestinian health ministry in a statement late Friday announced the death of Qusai Jamal Maatan, 19, saying he was “shot dead by settlers in the village of Burqa,” east of Ramallah.
At the funeral procession, Maatan was wrapped in a black and white keffiyeh head covering and Palestinian flag. Mourners carried his body through the village streets before his burial, said an AFP journalist at the scene.
Since early last year, the West Bank has seen a string of attacks by Palestinians on Israeli targets, as well as violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities and regular raids by Israeli forces who say they are pursuing militants.
In a statement Saturday, the Israeli army cited Palestinian reports and witnesses as saying clashes broke out between Palestinians and Israeli civilians who were herding sheep near Burqa village.
Both sides threw rocks, the Palestinians let off fireworks and “Israeli civilians shot toward the Palestinians,” the army said.
“As a result of the confrontation, a Palestinian was killed, four others were injured, and a Palestinian vehicle was found burned. Several Israeli civilians were injured from rocks hurled at them,” it said, adding security forces arrived after the shooting.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.
Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, the territory is home to nearly three million Palestinians and around 490,000 Israelis who live in settlements considered illegal under international law.
The last major case of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians occurred in June.
Revenge attacks on the West Bank village of Turmus Ayya and others followed the killing of four Israelis by Palestinian gunmen, which militant group Hamas said was in response to an Israeli army raid on Jenin refugee camp which killed six Palestinians.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA on Friday said it had recorded 591 settler-related “incidents” in the West Bank in the first six months of 2023 resulting in Palestinian casualties, property damage, or both.
“That’s an average of 99 incidents every month, and a 39-percent-increase compared with the monthly average of the whole of 2022, which is 71,” spokesman Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva.
Also on Friday, the Palestinian health ministry said Israeli soldiers shot dead Mahmoud Abu Saan, 18, in the West Bank community of Tulkarm. The Israeli army said “suspects fired and hurled explosives and stones” at patrolling soldiers “who responded with live fire.”
Friday’s killings came three days after a Palestinian gunman wounded six people in a shooting at an Israeli settlement in the West Bank before being shot dead himself.
Mourners bury Palestinian killed by Israeli settlers
https://arab.news/65mjz
Mourners bury Palestinian killed by Israeli settlers
- UN humanitarian agency OCHA had recorded 591 settler-related ‘incidents’ in the West Bank in the first six months of 2023
G7 leaders worried by situation on Lebanon border -draft communique
BORGO EGNAZIA, Italy: Group of Seven leaders are very concerned by the situation on the Israel-Lebanon border and endorse US efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, according to a draft communique due to be released following this week’s G7 summit.
The statement added that the Western leaders reiterated their unwavering commitment to a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, side-by-side.
In addition, they called on Israel to refrain from a full-scale offensive in Rafah, “in line with their obligations under international law.”
Erdogan calls on US, UN Security Council to pressure Israel on Gaza truce
- Erdogan said Ankara welcomed any ceasefire proposals that would end the Gaza war
ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday called on members of the United Nations Security Council, particularly the United States, to pressure Israel into a ceasefire in Gaza after the Council backed a US proposal earlier this week.
Speaking in Madrid alongside Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Erdogan said Ankara welcomed any ceasefire proposals that would end the Gaza war, adding Washington’s stance on Israel’s operations there were “truly upsetting” Turkiye.
Heavy rocket fire from Lebanon at northern Israel
- Numerous mid-air interceptions of rockets were conducted above Israeli towns, including in Safed
- Two people were wounded by shrapnel
JERUSALEM: Air raid sirens sounded across cities in northern Israel on Thursday and Israeli officials said about 40 rockets had been fired from Lebanon in the afternoon.
State broadcaster Kan aired footage of numerous mid-air interceptions of rockets above Israeli towns, including in Safed, some 12 km (7.5 miles) from the border.
Two people were wounded by shrapnel, Israel’s national ambulance service said.
Iran-backed Hezbollah opened a second front against Israel shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza. The Israel-Lebanon border has seen increasing attacks in both directions since.
The violence escalated this week with Hezbollah firing even more rockets as part of a retaliation for an Israeli strike that killed one of its senior field commanders.
Washington on Thursday expressed concern that fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border could spiral into a full-out war and called for new security arrangements.
More than half of cropland in hungry Gaza is damaged, UN says
- The data reveals a rise in the destruction of orchards, field crops and vegetables in the Palestinian enclave
- 57 percent of Gaza’s permanent crop fields and arable lands essential for food security had shown a significant decline in density and health
GENEVA: More than half of Gaza’s agricultural land, crucial for feeding the war-ravaged territory’s hungry population, has been degraded by conflict, satellite images analyzed by the United Nations show.
The data reveals a rise in the destruction of orchards, field crops and vegetables in the Palestinian enclave, where hunger is widespread after eight months of Israeli bombardment.
The World Health Organization warned on Wednesday that many people in Gaza were facing “catastrophic hunger and famine-like conditions.”
Using satellite imagery taken between May 2017 and 2024, United Nations Satellite Center (UNOSAT) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) found that 57 percent of Gaza’s permanent crop fields and arable lands essential for food security had shown a significant decline in density and health.
“In May 2024, crop health and density across the Gaza Strip showed a marked decline compared to the average of the previous seven seasons,” UNOSAT said on Thursday.
“This deterioration is attributed to conflict-related activities, including razing, heavy vehicle movement, bombing, and shelling.”
The decline, UNOSAT said, marked a 30 percent increase in damaged agricultural land since it published its last analysis in April.
Israel’s ground and air campaign was triggered when Hamas stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The offensive has killed more than 37,000 people in Gaza, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave, and has caused mass destruction and cut off routes for aid.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday there were more than 8,000 children under five years old in Gaza who had been treated for acute malnutrition.
As well as damage to crop fields and orchards, greenhouses across the Gaza Strip had also sustained significant damage, UNOSAT said.
The Gaza Strip has an estimated 151 square kilometers of agricultural land, which makes up about 41 percent of the coastal enclave’s territory, according to data from UNOSAT.
Iraq warns of ‘danger’ in Lebanon conflict expanding
- The exchanges between Israel and Lebanon’s powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah group, an ally of Hamas, have intensified in recent weeks, sparking fears of wider war
Near-daily cross-border fire between Lebanese-based militants and Israeli forces have occurred since Palestinian group Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, triggering the ongoing aggression in the Gaza Strip.
The exchanges between Israel and Lebanon’s powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah group, an ally of Hamas, have intensified in recent weeks, sparking fears of wider war.
“If southern Lebanon is attacked, it will affect the entire region,” Iraq’s top diplomat Fuad Hussein said at a press conference with Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri, who also voiced opposition to a regional escalation.
“The expansion of the war is a danger, not only for Lebanon but for the entire region,” Hussein said, repeating his call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
The Iranian minister similarly called for “putting an end as quickly as possible, and without preconditions,” to “war crimes” and “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
He said Israel, in response to their “failure” in Gaza, “may seek to commit further wrongs and broaden the scope of their aggression,” but Iran would not allow anyone “to harm stability and regional security, even if only a little.”
Experts have said they believe risk of a wider war is limited.
Hezbollah, a major ally of Tehran’s, launched a barrage of rockets at northern Israel on Wednesday and promised to intensify its attacks after the killing of a top military commander the day before in an Israeli strike.
The Israeli military said more than 150 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israel in successive barrages, without any reported casualties, adding that they responded with strikes against several targets in southern Lebanon.
