The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said that an Israeli force stormed the town of Sa’ir, northeast of Hebron, in the southern West Bank, with a number of military vehicles, and spread out in several neighborhoods, before raiding the home of the family of martyr Qusay Halaika in the Qaffan area.
She added that the Israeli forces detained and assaulted the family members, and abused them, after searching the house and destroying its contents, noting that the occupation army completely closed the area, forced shop owners to close their shops, and prevented the movement of citizens, and also detained a number of young men and subjected them to field investigation.
Earlier on Wednesday, the General Authority for Civil Affairs, the official Palestinian liaison with Israel, announced that it had informed the Palestinian Ministry of Health of the death of citizen Qusay Maher Ismail Halaika (28 years old) from the town of Al-Shuyoukh in the Hebron Governorate, by Israeli army gunfire near the city of Bethlehem, with his body being held.
In the southern West Bank, Wafa news agency reported that the Israeli army arrested two Palestinians from the town of Al-Karmel, south of Hebron. The official Voice of Palestine radio station also reported that Israeli forces assaulted a young man in the Ayoun Abu Seif area and raided the Al-Fawwar refugee camp south of Hebron.
The radio station added that army raids also targeted the town of Hizma, northeast of Jerusalem, where tear gas canisters were fired at shops, as well as the towns of Azzun, east of Qalqilya, and Qaffin, north of Tulkarm, in the northern West Bank. It noted that army forces fired flares over the Quneitra area, west of the town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus
In a related development, nine European countries, along with Canada and Japan, called on the Israeli government on Wednesday to open all crossings into the Gaza Strip and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the territory in accordance with international law, as well as to halt all demolitions in the West Bank.
This came in a statement issued by the foreign ministers of Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Canada, and published on the British government website.
According to the statement, the aforementioned countries strongly condemned the Israeli authorities' demolition of UNRWA buildings in East Jerusalem on January 20.
They considered this "unprecedented act against a UN agency by a UN member state, and the latest unacceptable step aimed at undermining its ability to operate."
The 11 countries also called on the Israeli government to fully comply with its commitments to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip in accordance with international law.
The statement from the Western nations reminded Israel that it had "agreed to President Trump's 20-point plan, which stipulates that aid must enter the Gaza Strip and be distributed under the auspices of the United Nations and the Red Crescent, without any interference."
The statement noted that "despite the increased volume of aid entering Gaza, the humanitarian situation remains dire,and supplies are still insufficient to meet the needs of the population."
In this regard, the aforementioned countries called on Israel to allow the expansion of safe and unimpeded humanitarian aid and services throughout the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Since the start of the war of extermination on the Gaza Strip on October 8, 2023, which lasted two years, Israel, through its army and settlers, has intensified its attacks in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, and these attacks have included killing, arrest, house demolitions, displacement and settlement expansion.
These attacks resulted in the martyrdom of at least 1,110 Palestinians, the injury of more than 11,500 others, in addition to the arrest of more than 21,000 Palestinians, according to official Palestinian data.
