Early Saturday morning, many armored Israeli military vehicles, including bulldozers, invaded Aqbat Jabr camp, south of Jericho in the northeastern West Bank, shot thirteen Palestinians, including three who suffered life-threatening wounds, demolished four homes, and abducted at least five Palestinians, including a father and two of his sons.
The invasion was carried out shortly after undercover Israeli soldiers infiltrated the refugee camp and surrounded a Palestinian home before many army vehicles invaded the area after surrounding and isolating it.
The invasion led to protests before the soldiers fired a barrage of live fire, rubber-coated steel bullets, gas bombs, and concussion grenades.
Medical sources have confirmed that the soldiers shot thirteen Palestinians with live fire, including three who suffered serious wounds and were transferred to Palestine Medical Complex and the Istishari Hospital in Ramallah.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the soldiers stopped Palestinian ambulances trying to enter the refugee camp and prevented medical staff from reaching the Jericho governmental hospital.
It added that the soldiers also caused damage to a Palestinian ambulance.
After invading the refugee camp, the soldiers surrounded a home and demolished the walls around it before, before demolished several sections of the property and using loudspeakers to order the Palestinians inside to surrender.
The Israeli army said it fired anti-tank guided missiles toward a building in which Palestinian fighters are believed to be hiding.
Eid Barahma, the head of the Jericho office of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), said the soldiers abducted five Palestinians in the surrounded home, identified as Adnan Abdul-Fattah Al-Mqaiti, Odai Sa’id, Awni Jamil Lafi and his sons Mohammad and Jamil.
The Maan News Agency said the Israeli military bulldozers demolished four Palestinian homes in the refugee camp.
Media sources said Palestinian resistance fighters exchanged fire with the soldiers who also used explosives.
The army withdrew from the area without being able to abduct any of the Palestinians it invaded the refugee camp to take prisoner.
The army was trying to abduct Palestinians believed to be behind the shooting a week ago, targeting a restaurant run by illegal Israeli colonizers on stolen Palestinian lands south of the city.
On Friday, dozens of soldiers invaded Jericho city and surrounded Aqbat Jabr camp before firing a barrage of live rounds, gas bombs, and concussion grenades.
Jericho has remained under strict siege since last Saturday, especially after the army installed dozens of roadblocks on all entrances, main and minor roads, and concrete blocks on the streets.
The siege was imposed on Jericho as an illegal act of collective punishment after several shots were fired at a restaurant run by illegal Israeli colonizers on stolen Palestinian lands south of the city.
