The Palestinian General Authority for Civil Affairs (the body that communicates with the Israeli side) said in a statement on Sunday that it had informed the Palestinian Ministry of Health of "the martyrdom of citizen Shaker Falah Ahmed Al-Ja'bari (58 years old) by occupation bullets in Hebron last Saturday night, and the detention of his body."
In contrast, the Israeli army said in a statement that it shot a person who allegedly tried to carry out a car-ramming attack in the city of Hebron, claiming that no injuries were sustained among its forces.
In this context, on Sunday, the occupation forces stormed the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank, besieged the entrances to the Old City, and detained a number of residents, while the occupation announced that one of its soldiers was injured during an armed clash in the city.
Eyewitnesses and Palestinian security sources reported that Israeli special forces infiltrated the Qaryoun neighborhood inside the Old City, followed by military vehicles storming the city from several directions and heading towards the Old City and its surroundings, where they spread out in a number of neighborhoods and in the eastern market, amid heavy gunfire and sound bombs.
The sources indicated that the forces fired live ammunition at a vehicle in the Ras al-Ain neighborhood, resulting in material damage but no injuries, before evacuating its passengers.
Palestinian media also reported that the occupation army threw stun grenades and smoke bombs at journalists in the Old City of Nablus, and detained a number of them.
In this context, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that it coordinated with the International Committee of the Red Cross to evacuate dozens of worshippers who had been trapped since dawn prayers inside the Al-Satoun Mosque in the Al-Yasmina neighborhood, which was besieged by the occupation forces, noting that 12 worshippers were evacuated without specifying the total number.
In another development, medical sources reported that a Palestinian was shot by Israeli occupation forces at the Awarta checkpoint south of Nablus, but the nature of his injury was not immediately known.
For its part, the Israeli army said in a statement that a soldier was moderately wounded by gunfire during a "military operation" in Nablus. It explained that he was taken to a hospital for treatment and his family was notified, adding that its forces had begun pursuing the shooter. Israeli army radio had reported clashes in the Casbah neighborhood between the army and Palestinian militants.
In the southern West Bank, Israeli occupation forces arrested 12 Palestinians on Sunday during a raid on the town of Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem. Sources added that among those arrested were four former prisoners: Murad Ahmad Mahmoud Abdel-Hadi Taqatqa, Atef Muhammad Abdel-Rahman al-Kar (30 years old), Majdi Muhammad Abdel-Rahman al-Kar (32 years old), and Fadi Mahmoud Hammad Taqatqa (33 years old).
These developments come amid a continued Israeli escalation in the West Bank since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip on October 8, 2013, which has included raids, arrests, property destruction, and settlement expansion. According to official Palestinian figures, Israeli attacks in the West Bank have resulted in the deaths of at least 1,106 Palestinians, injuries to approximately 11,000, and the arrest of more than 21,000 since the escalation began.
