On Tuesday, a Palestinian worker died of injuries he sustained days earlier in the town of Ar-Ram, north of occupied Jerusalem.
Media sources reported that the young man Youssef Omar Ahmad Aqel, 33, succumbed to serious injuries days after Israeli forces shot him in the chest with live ammunition.
The sources added that Aqel, a resident of the town of Biddya, in the Salfit governorate, attempted to enter his workplace by crossing the Apartheid wall in the Ar-Ram town, a number of days ago, before occupation forces opened fire on him, causing serious injuries.
Following his critical injuries, Aqel was transported to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah and admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), where he succumbed to his injuries today.
On Tuesday evening, crowds of mourners, including the Governor of Salfit, Mustafa Taqatqa, participated in the funeral for the slain young man.
Media sources reported that the funeral procession began in front of the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, before the body was transported to the Great Mosque in Biddya.
There, the mourners performed the funeral prayer, before marching through the streets carrying the body of the slain Aqel on their shoulders to the town’s cemetery where he was laid to rest.
Governor Taqatqa stressed the need for intensifying national unity in the face of the Israeli occupation’s continued aggression and terrorism against the Palestinian people, adding that Israeli crimes will not deter Palestinians from striving for their legitimate rights.
Sources said that Aqel, was a married father of two children (2 and 10 years old) and he was the sole financial provider for his family.
After October 7, 2023, Israeli occupation authorities withdrew work permits for at least 120,000 Palestinian workers, resulting in economic insecurity among workers in the occupied West Bank.
According to the General Union of Palestinian Workers, at least 42 Palestinian laborers have been killed since October 2023, as a result of soldiers shooting them with live rounds, or as a result falling from the Apartheid wall after being pursued by occupation forces.
In the same period, the union reported that more than 32,000 workers have been abducted by Israeli troops, under the pretext of entering Israel without a permit.
Since the beginning of the Israeli military aggression against the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, occupation forces have killed 1102 Palestinian citizens in the West Bank, including 229 children and 24 women.
In the Jenin governorate, 310 Palestinians have been killed, while 213 were killed in Tulkarem, 138 in Nablus, 105 in Hebron, 98 in Tubas, 81 in Ramallah, 60 in Jerusalem, 42 in Qalqilia, 34 in Bethlehem, 13 in Jericho and the Jordan Valley, and 8 in Salfit, according to the Shireen Observatory.
In the Gaza Strip, the overall death toll since October 7, 2023 has increased to 70,942, including women and children, while at least 171,195 Palestinians have sustained various degrees of injuries as a result of Israel’s military onslaught.
