Israel and Settlers Kill 2 Palestinians in West Bank

The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed on Friday that Karim Sanad Shalaldeh, a 17-year-old, was shot dead during an attack by Israeli settlers in Khirbet Hamroush, in the southern West Bank. Shalaldeh was hit in the chest and was in critical condition before being pronounced dead. A 70-year-old man was also injured in the incident.

Local sources told the Wafa news agency that armed groups of Israeli settlers raided the Khirbet Hamroush area, firing at residents and setting homes ablaze.

In a separate development the same day, the Palestinian Civil Affairs Authority informed the Health Ministry that Fathi Khazem, 58, a former colonel in the Palestinian National Security Forces, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in Jenin when the Israeli military raided his home. The Israeli military accused Khazem of attempting to stab soldiers during the operation before being shot and killed.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the Israeli military did not return Khazem's body to his family for burial. Wafa reported that Israeli forces prevented ambulance crews from approaching the house after the shooting.

Earlier, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its workers had treated a 14-year-old boy who had been shot with live ammunition in the chest and back during an Israeli raid near Jenin. The boy was transferred to a hospital.

Also on Friday, Israeli troops detained six people in a separate raid in Jenin city.

Amid the escalating violence, in Qusra, south of Nablus, Israeli settlers continued to besiege three Palestinian homes for a 13th consecutive day, under the protection of Israeli forces. Qusra's mayor, Abdel Azim Wadi, said settlers and Israeli forces were preventing families in the Ras al-Ain area from entering or leaving their homes, with one house taken over as a military post and the area declared a closed military zone. Wadi said families were short of food and medicine because Israel had blocked supplies.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, called the Israeli military the "most immoral army" in a post on X. She wrote: "In the West Bank, soldiers and settlers cut water pipes while the siege of Qusra continues. In Gaza, the crushing continues and massacres still occur. Since the ceasefire, Israel has killed more than 1,200 people, including 300 children."

A report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) released on Thursday showed that state-backed violence by Israeli settlers had caused 107 Palestinian communities in the West Bank to be wholly or partially displaced since January 2023. The US-based rights group said the escalating settler attacks, along with Israel's rapid expansion of settlements that are illegal under international law, are driving a wave of forced displacement of Palestinians.

Israel's plan to build a large illegal settlement under the E1 project, expected to bisect the West Bank, has drawn widespread international condemnation. Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, and Norway on Thursday called Israel's tender for more than 1,200 housing units under the project "unacceptable" and a violation of the "territorial continuity of the Palestinian lands."

"These actions not only distance us from peace but also continue to undermine Israel's international standing," the countries' statement said.