Israel kills a Palestinian, arrests dozens, and blows up Al-Arouri’s house in the West Bank
Israel killed an elderly Palestinian in the West Bank, bombed the house of Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri, and arrested more than 60 of its wanted persons, before Palestinian settlers attacked Qalqilya in the northern West Bank, and 2 settlers were stabbed, on another hot day in the West Bank.
The Israeli army stormed most of the cities and camps of the West Bank on Tuesday in large-scale operations, which it has been carrying out day and night since the sudden Hamas attack (Al-Aqsa Flood) on October 7, which left 1,400 Israelis dead, with the aim of killing and arresting wanted persons.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that the elderly Rawhi Rashid Sawafta (70 years old) was killed by Israeli army gunfire after being directly hit in the face during the army’s storming of the city of Tubas in the northern West Bank.
Palestinian activists during the funeral of Rawhi Rashid Sawafta in Tubas on Tuesday (Reuters)
The army stormed Tubas, along with other areas such as Bethlehem, Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin, and Tulkarm, with the aim of arresting Palestinians before violent confrontations broke out.
The Israeli army arrested Nader Sawafta, a Hamas official, from Tubas, after a chase that lasted several weeks. Meanwhile, 10 Palestinians were injured by live bullets, a scene that is repeated almost daily in most Palestinian governorates.
In the village of Aroura, northwest of Ramallah, the Israeli army blew up the house of Saleh Al-Arouri, deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, after seizing it for two weeks, and turned it into an intelligence headquarters.
Large forces stormed the village, surrounded the house, then completely blew it up, and raised a banner reading “Hamas = ISIS” on its rubble.
Israel accuses Al-Arouri, deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, who is from the West Bank and responsible for it, of being behind Hamas’ infrastructure in the West Bank as well as in Lebanon, and that he was the one who worked on the idea of connecting the squares.
Al-Arouri is at the top of the list of Israeli targets in the Hamas leadership living abroad, even before the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation, and after that he became 1 out of 6 in “Hamas” whom Israel wants to assassinate at any cost. Israel says that Al-Arouri lives in Lebanon under the protection of Hezbollah.
In Tulkarm, Jenin, Nablus, and Bethlehem, the Israeli army faced resistance from the Palestinians, some of which included the use of weapons.
The “Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades – Rapid Response” and “Al-Quds Brigades – Tulkarm Battalion” said that they caught “a foot force from the occupation army in a tight ambush in the Shuweika area (Tulkarm).” They added in a joint statement: “Our mujahideen targeted the force by firing a heavy amount of bullets at the force, and we confirm that there were casualties among their ranks.”
The killing of the elderly Sawafta brings the number of those killed by Israel since October 7 in the West Bank to 125, including the child Muhammad Abdel Qader Al-Kharaz (14 years old), who died on Tuesday as a result of being hit by live bullets during the Israeli occupation forces’ storming of the village of Zawata, west of Nablus, on Tuesday. Monday, while more than 2,000 Palestinians were injured, and about 1,600 were arrested.
Saleh Al-Arouri’s house during its demolition in Aroura in the West Bank on Tuesday (AP)
Video clips posted by activists on social media showed scenes from the arrest campaign carried out on Tuesday, showing Israeli soldiers abusing detainees through severe, humiliating beatings and insults.
A large part of these incursions came early in the morning, which is an approach that Israel has continued to follow after October 7, in an attempt to keep the entire West Bank in a tense and defensive position day and night.
The Israeli army usually launched its raids early at night and ended before dawn, with the Palestinians continuing their normal lives after that, but it began to raid in the morning and at other times of the day, greatly confusing public life in the West Bank.
Israel has escalated its measures in the West Bank since the Hamas operation, raised alert, closed the West Bank completely, and turned it into ghettos after besieging cities and villages with iron gates, cement blocks, and dirt barriers. It also began arming settlers under the pretext of fear of escalating tensions in the West Bank.
Settlers attacked a group of Palestinians near the Karnei Shomron settlement near Qalqilya in the northern West Bank on Tuesday. The Palestinians, most of whom were sheep herders, defended themselves, and the confrontations resulted in injuries on both sides.
The Fatah movement issued a statement on Tuesday, warning of “the growing occupation escalation, the additional arming of the colonists, and the continued spilling of our blood,” and called on the Palestinians in the West Bank to defend themselves in the face of the occupation and the colonizers “no matter how great the sacrifices are.”
The movement also warned against “the occupation’s isolation of detainees and the escalation of its repressive measures against them,” stressing: “We and our people will stand in support of them in all circumstances.”
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2023-10-31 16:05:26
