On Tuesday evening, a large Israeli army force invaded the city of Tulkarem and its refugee camp in the northwestern part of the occupied West Bank, killing six Palestinian young men, while injuring and abducting others.
Media sources said that the army positioned sharpshooters on the rooftops of several buildings in the city and its refugee camp, while declaring the area a military zone.
[Video from Palestine TV]
Armed reconnaissance drones flew overhead and army vehicles, including two bulldozers were stationed at the entrances to the camp, while local Palestinians protested the military incursion.
In the predawn hours of Wednesday, an armed drone fired a missile at a Palestinian-owned home in Al-Balawna neighborhood of the Tulkarem refugee camp and another missile was fired at a group of citizens.
Medical sources said that five young men were killed as a result of the airstrikes and several others were injured, although the exact number of wounded was not known, as soldiers abducted some of them.
According to ambulance crews in the city, at least two injuries were transported to hospital, one of whom was seriously wounded.
The Israeli missile strike caused serious wounds to one young man as a result of shrapnel (missile fragments) in the head, chest, and face, and a 16-year-old child also sustained a shrapnel injury in his face.
Occupation forces stormed and besieged the emergency department of Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital, and surrounded Al-Israa Specialized Hospital, and attempted to confiscate the bodies of the five slain young men.
Furthermore, the army chased ambulances, obstructed their work, abducted several of the injured young men in addition to paramedics, abducting a total of fourteen people.
One of the injured young men succumbed to wounds sustained during the airstrike on Wednesday morning, bringing the total number killed during the Israeli military’s aggression to six.
The identities of the slain Palestinians are;
Rami Abdullah Mohammad Shomali, 37,
Odai Zoheir Hassan Zayat, 33,
Ahmad Mutee Mahmoud Salit, 20,
Bassam Hussein Mahmoud Shafe’ey, 50,
Muhammad Tawfiq Muhammad Abu Anin, 37, and
Firas Awad Balawna (Abu Qamra), 28.
Furthermore, military bulldozers and missiles inflicted severe destruction to the streets, infrastructure, and citizens’ property in the camp as a result of the attack.
[Video from Palestine TV]
On Wednesday afternoon, large crowds of Palestinians gathered in front of the Martyr Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital to mourn the six slain young men.
The funeral procession marched through the city streets carrying the bodies of the six slain Palestinians chanting slogans condemning the crimes of the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Mourners proceeded towards the Tulkarem refugee camp where family and loved ones said their final goodbyes.
The funeral prayers were performed over their bodies at the Al-Wakala Primary Boys School, before laying them to rest in the Martyrs’ Cemetery in Tulkarem.
