The Israeli occupation army assault on Balata refugee camp in Nablus at dawn Monday, which resulted in the killing of three Palestinians and the wounding of six others, is a real massacre and a continuation of the all-out war Israel is waging against the Palestinian people, WAFA quoted Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the official spokesman for the Palestinian presidency, as having said.
Six more Palestinians were injured in the Israeli aggression, one of them seriously, the Ministry of Health reported.
It said Fathi Jihad Rizq, 30, Abdullah Yousef Abu Hamdan, 24, and Mohammad Bilal Zeitoun, 32, were killed during the assault.
Witnesses said a large force raided the camp in the early hours and deployed snipers on rooftops.
Fierce clashes broke out and led to the killing of the three and the injury of the six.
The soldiers also broke into dozens of homes in the camp, searched and ransacked them, and blew up one house of the Abu Shalal family injuring a young boy and girl from shrapnel and causing damage to nearby homes.
The Israeli army has killed or caused the death of 156 Palestinians since the start of the year, among them 26 minors, and including 36 in the Gaza Strip.
“The continuous aggression against the city of Nablus, its villages and camps by the occupation forces and extremist settlers is a major war crime and collective punishment that must be put to an end immediately,” Abu Rudeineh said, holding the Israeli occupation government fully responsible for this continuous dangerous escalation that targets the people, their lands and their sanctities.
He pointed out that the silence of the US administration on these crimes encouraged Israel to persist in its aggression, calling on it to intervene immediately to put a stop “to the Israeli madness that will drag the region towards an explosion.”
The Israeli army killed 39 Palestinians in Nablus alone since the start of the year, and 156 in all the occupied territories, including 36 in the Gaza Strip.
However, The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) on Monday accused Israel of declaring an open war against the Palestinians with the killing of three young men during an army assault into the northern West Bank city of Nablus earlier in the day, WAFA News Agency reported.
PLO Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh said in a tweet that the Israeli occupation government sent its army to commit another of its daily crimes against the Palestinian people, the last of which was the killing and destruction this morning in Balata refugee camp in Nablus.
“The occupation government declares an open war with the Palestinians by killing, destroying houses, settlements and destroying sanctities, which requires all Palestinians to unite and develop policies to confront this arrogance and this dangerous escalation,” said al-Sheikh.
“The occupation government announces that the price of its survival and the continuation of its coalition is Palestinian blood,” he said.
The Israeli occupation forces have killed or caused the death of 156 Palestinians since the start of the year in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including dozens of women and children.
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