Israeli occupation forces invaded Aqraba, south of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, early Tuesday and surrounded and attacked a home. The soldiers killed a Palestinian man and took his body.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the slain man as Abdul-Karim Mohammad Salem Khader, 28, after receiving confirmation from the Palestinian Civil Affairs Authority. Israeli authorities continue to withhold his body.
Media reports said a large Israeli military force invaded the town, surrounded a home in the Ad-Deeriya area, and demanded that Khader surrender. The soldiers threatened to demolish the house if he refused.
Witnesses said the army imposed a strict military cordon around the home as heavy gunfire and confrontations erupted in the area. According to those accounts, Khader refused to surrender and exchanged fire with the invading forces.
Israeli forces sent military reinforcements into the town, including armored vehicles and a bulldozer that later demolished parts of the besieged home. Residents reported hearing two explosions as soldiers continued firing and struck the house with an Energa anti-tank grenade.
Warplanes maintained an intensive presence over the area, while Israeli forces closed the town’s gate to outgoing traffic but kept it open to vehicles entering the town. Drivers used the road through Beita as an alternate route.
After hours of siege and exchanges of fire, Israeli forces withdrew from the area, having partially demolished the home and fired projectiles at it. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said the soldiers barred its medics from reaching or examining Khader before taking his body.
A day earlier, Israeli soldiers fatally shot another Palestinian near Osarin, east of Nablus, after an alleged stabbing seriously wounded an Israeli colonizer. The Palestinian was identified as Mahmoud Mohammad Arabi Moshin, 34, from Qabalan.
The killing comes amid an ongoing escalation across the occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have intensified invasions of Palestinian cities, towns, and refugee camps, as well as targeted killings, home demolitions, and other military operations.
Israeli soldiers and illegal paramilitary colonizers have killed 99 Palestinians, including 26 children and six women, in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of the year, according to figures from the Shireen Observatory.
The 99 fatalities include 22 Palestinians in Ramallah, 21 in Nablus, 20 in Hebron, 11 in Jerusalem, nine in Jenin, six in Tubas, three in Bethlehem, three in Qalqilia, two in Jericho and the Jordan Valley, one in Salfit, and one in Tulkarem, according to the Observatory.
