The Israel-Gaza war has continued since October 7 (file photo)
An Israeli attack on the Nour Shams refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank killed at least 14 people, the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Saturday.
The Israeli military said its troops killed 10 militants in the operation that began on Thursday.
AFP reporters saw streets and houses hit by explosions, Israeli drones flying overhead and armored vehicles moving through the camp.
Since early last year, violence has erupted in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967. Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza on October 7, violence has further escalated.
“So far, our staff has transferred 14 martyrs from Nour Shams camp to hospitals,” the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
Earlier, the Palestinian Health Ministry said it had confirmed that 11 people were injured in the Israeli attack, seven of whom were “wounded by live ammunition.” This included a paramedic who was shot while trying to treat the wounded, the report added.
The health ministry said medical staff had been alerted to “multiple casualties” in the camp, but the army “did not allow them to treat the wounded”.
An AFP reporter said medical staff tried to enter the camp but were refused by the military. Reporters said gunfire rang out and soldiers carried out house-to-house raids.
Residents report power outage
The Israeli army said it had “neutralized 10 terrorists” and arrested eight people around Nur Shams. Eight soldiers and one policeman were injured, the report added.
Israeli forces say they frequently target Palestinian militants, but civilians are often among the dead.
On Friday, the health ministry said 16-year-old Qais Fathi Nasrallah was killed by Israeli forces in the nearby Tulkarem refugee camp.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said he died after being “shot in the head by an Israeli live round.” It’s unclear exactly when he died.
Wafa said a 30-year-old man, Salim Faisal Ghanem, was “killed by Israeli forces” in the Noor Shams camp on Friday.
Residents contacted by AFP on Saturday said the camp had no electricity and food was scarce, but no one was allowed to enter or leave.
Minister Muad Shaaban, chairman of the Palestinian Committee for Colonization and Resistance to the Separation Wall, said residents were suffering “the destruction of homes, shops, electricity grids, sewage systems, water networks and infrastructure.”
paramedic killed
According to Palestinian official sources, approximately 480 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the outbreak of the Gaza war.
Excluding annexed East Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to some 490,000 Israeli settlers, who live in communities considered illegal under international law.
An ambulance driver was killed in clashes between settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank village of As-Sawiya on Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent and the health ministry said.
“Mohammed Awad Allen, a volunteer paramedic from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, died while treating a settler gunshot wound,” the organization said.
An eyewitness said Israeli soldiers were present and fired along with the settlers, but said it was not clear whether it was the army or the settlers who fired at the ambulance driver.
The military has not yet responded to AFP’s request for comment.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
