Three Palestinians, including one man released in the Shalit prisoner exchange, were shot to death by IDF forces this morning in Qalandia refugee camp, near Ramallah. UPDATE: According to the latest reports, the former prisoner, Yusuf Khatib, was the target of the IDF arrest operation, and was not among those who died.
The incident began when plainclothes soldiers who entered the camp to carry out arrests were exposed by local residents. According to reports in the Israeli media, after being attacked with stones and rocks, the soldiers used live ammunition to rescue themselves out of the refugee camp. Rubin al-Abed, 32, Yunis Jahjuh, 22, and Jihad Aslan, 20, died from the shooting. Palestinian sources are reporting at least another 15 wounded.
13 Palestinians have been killed this year from IDF fire in the West Bank.
UPDATE: The Palestinian Authority canceled the next scheduled negotiations meeting with Israel following the events in Qalandia.
Here are three clips from the events this morning. In the top video you can see a couple of armed vehicles attacked with stones. The shots are clearly heard in the bottom videos.
Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war – the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel and the massive retaliatory Israeli attacks on Gaza. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing violence.
We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed unleashed by these events has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Hamas’ murderous assault in southern Israel has devastated and shocked the country to its core. Israel’s retaliatory bombing of Gaza is wreaking destruction on the already besieged strip and killing a ballooning number of civilians. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to escalate their attacks on Palestinians.
This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 13 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, the entrenched occupation, and an increasingly normalized siege on Gaza.
We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives.
Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is the leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists and activists can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.