GAZA STRIP - The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Monday that at least 30 534 people have been killed during the war between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian territory. A ministry statement said there were 124 fatalities over the past 24 hours, while another 71 980 people have been wounded since the war escalated on 7 October.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops on Monday blew up the home of a Palestinian accused of killing a British-Israeli woman and her two daughters in the occupied West Bank last year. The apartment of Moaz al-Masry, who was killed by Israeli forces following the 7 April attack, was demolished in the early hours, Palestinian witnesses told AFP.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said their medics treated about 15 people after Israeli forces fired tear gas during the raid on the West Bank city of Nablus. Masry, along with two other attackers, was accused of shooting dead Israeli settler Leah Dee and her daughters Maia and Rina as they were driving near Hamra in the Jordan Valley.
Following a manhunt, the assailants were killed in a military raid on Nablus in May. Troops overnight into Monday stormed the Al-Makhfiya neighbourhood in Nablus and surrounded Masry’s house, a witness told AFP.
Israel routinely demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks, arguing that such measures act as a deterrent, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment. The Red Crescent told AFP they had evacuated multiple residents, including children, from the building housing Masry’s apartment.
Violence in the West Bank had flared even before the war in the Gaza Strip between Hamas militants and Israel erupted on 7 October. Since the war broke out, at least 420 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli troops and settlers, according to the Palestinian health ministry based in Ramallah.
The latest fatality was 16-year-old Mustafa Abu Shalbak, who the ministry said was shot before dawn on Monday by Israeli forces near Ramallah. Residents said Israeli forces came under fire as they raided a home in Amari refugee camp.
An AFP photographer saw troops marching two blindfolded Palestinians through a street, while multiple soldiers pointed their weapons at surrounding buildings. Israel’s military did not immediate comment on the Amari raid or the Nablus demolition.
In recent months Palestinian militants have also carried out numerous attacks against Israeli troops and civilians in Israel and the West Bank, killing at least 17 people, according to Israeli figures.
Israel has occupied the West Bank -- including east Jerusalem, which it later illegally annexed -- since the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. Israeli settlements which are illegal under international law have ballooned over the decades and are seen as a key barrier to peace with the Palestinians. - Nampa/AFP