Palestinian killed during clashes with IDF near Jericho, bringing daily toll to 6
PA health ministry reports death of 19-year-old from Aqabat Jabr, where Israeli forces have carried out numerous raids since February terror shooting by resident of camp
A Palestinian man was reportedly killed early Wednesday during clashes between gunmen and Israeli forces near the West Bank city of Jericho.
The Palestinian Authority’s health ministry said the 19-year-old was fatally shot during an IDF operation in the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp, without further elaborating.
He was later named on Palestinian social media as Durgham al-Akhras.
The Israel Defense Forces later said troops opened fire after Palestinians hurled explosive devices at them them while carrying out an arrest raid in in Aqabat Jabr, one of several across the West Bank overnight.
“The soldiers fired at a terrorist who threw an explosive toward them and neutralized him,” a statement from the military said.
No IDF troops were hurt.
صورة الشاب ضرغام الأخرس الذي ارتقى متاثرًا بإصابته الحرجة برصاص الاحتلال في مخيم عقبة جبر بأريحا فجر اليوم pic.twitter.com/xgNeUj27Hv
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) September 20, 2023
Israeli security forces have carried out numerous operations in the camp this year after Israeli-American Elan Ganeles was killed in late February in a nearby terror shooting.
The accused terrorist and driver both hailed from Aqabat Jabr and security forces have moved to demolish the former’s home.
Along with the operation in Aqabat Jabr, the IDF said troops operated in Hebron and numerous other Palestinian towns, arresting 12 suspects and seizing numerous weapons and ammunition.
According to the military, soldiers were also met with violence during a raid in Qatanna, where they used riot dispersal means and fired into the air in response to Palestinians hurling bricks from roofs and shooting fireworks at them. No troops were wounded there either.
The clashes came after intense fighting Tuesday evening between gunmen and Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank refugee camp of Jenin, with Palestinian health officials reporting four killed and around thirty wounded.
The military said that as troops entered the refugee camp to arrest a number of wanted Palestinians, armed clashes broke out.
The IDF said it also used a Rafael SPIKE FireFly loitering munition, also known as a suicide drone, against a number of armed Palestinians “who endangered the forces.”
The four Palestinians were later named as Mahmoud Ali Naafi as-Saadi, 23, Mahmoud Khaled Ararawi, 24, Raafat Omar Khamaiseh, 22, and Atta Yasser Atta Musa, 29.
Images circulating online showed the men brandishing assault rifles indicating they were members of local terror groups.
A Palestinian was also killed during rioting on the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday evening.
Violence has surged across the region over the past year and a half, with a rise in Palestinian shooting attacks against Israeli civilians and troops in the West Bank, near-nightly arrest raids by the military, and an uptick in revenge attacks by extremist Jewish settlers against Palestinians.
Palestinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank since the beginning of the year have left 27 civilians and three soldiers dead, and several others seriously wounded.
According to a tally by The Times of Israel, 186 West Bank and East Jerusalem Palestinians have been killed during the same period — the majority during clashes with security forces or while carrying out attacks, but some were uninvolved civilians and others were killed under unclear circumstances, including by armed Israeli settlers.
