February 10, 2025 (WAFA) – The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said on Monday that the Israeli occupation army expanded open-fire orders in the occupied West Bank, which led to an increase in the number of Palestinian civilian casualties.
The newspaper added, quoting commanders of units in the occupation army, that the so-called “Central Command” has decided to implement the shooting mechanism it used in the Gaza Strip to kill any unarmed Palestinian, whether suspected or not, in the West Bank.
The newspaper explained that “the broad opening fire orders made it easier for soldiers to pull the trigger at the behest of the commander of the Central Command, Avi Balut.”
Since January 21, the Israeli occupation has continued its unprecedented aggression on the northern governorates of the West Bank, starting with Jenin and its camp, before expanding it to the city of Tulkarm and its two camps, Tulkarm and Nour Shams, in addition to the town of Tamoun and the Far’a camp in the Tubas governorate.
Haaretz quoted soldiers who participated in the ongoing aggression on the West Bank as saying, “Balut allowed shooting with the intent to kill Palestinians without resorting to arrest.”
In the same context, the newspaper quoted commanders of units in the occupation army, saying that “the commander of the West Bank Division, Yaki Dolev, ordered that any vehicle coming from a combat zone towards a checkpoint be shot at; which was represented on Sunday when soldiers opened fire on a car that was on its way towards a military checkpoint, with a man and a woman on board, which led to their deaths, even though they were not armed.”
Yesterday, citizen Sundus Jamal Muhammad Shalabi (23 years old) and her fetus were martyred, and her husband was critically injured in the head after the Israeli occupation forces opened fire on the vehicle they were riding in while trying to flee from the Nour Shams camp east of Tulkarm.
The newspaper explained that “an Israeli military force used Palestinian civilians to search buildings believed to contain explosives, similar to what happened in the Gaza Strip, when the army used civilians as human shields.”
In a related context, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed the details of the martyrdom of the young woman, Rahaf Fouad Abdullah Al-Ashqar (21 years old), in the Nour Shams camp yesterday, Sunday.
The newspaper said that the occupation army planted a bomb in order to blow up the entrance to the house and storm it, without informing those inside, and when the young woman, Rahaf, opened the door, the bomb exploded, leading to her martyrdom.
In parallel with the genocidal war waged on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation and settlers escalated their attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, resulting in the martyrdom of 910 citizens, including 183 children, and the injury of about 7,000 others .
Since the beginning of this year 2025, 75 citizens have been martyred, including 11 children, according to data issued by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Cover photography by Mohamad Mansour/WAFA
