Palestinian killed during Israeli raid on Jenin camp | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Ahmad Fathi Masad, 21, was shot dead during an Israeli army raid in Jenin; at least three others were injured.

Occupied West Bank – Israeli forces have shot dead a Palestinian man during a raid on the Jenin area in the northern occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian state news agency WAFA.

The 21-year-old was identified as Ahmad Fathi Masad, a former prisoner from the village of Burqin, west of Jenin.

His killing in the Jenin refugee camp was announced just after dawn on Wednesday morning, and a funeral procession was held for him an hour later.

At least three other Palestinians were wounded during the raid, in which armed confrontations broke out with Palestinian fighters in the camp.

The Israeli army said it was conducting counterterrorism activity in Jenin, but did not comment on any casualties.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement, which is active in the Jenin camp, said in a statement: “The blood of the martyr Ahmad and all the martyrs, will not go in vain.”

Israeli forces arrested at least 15 Palestinians in raids on other parts of Jenin and across the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.

Masad’s killing comes just a day after another Palestinian, 20-year-old Ahmad Ibrahim Owaidat, was killed during a raid on the Aqabet Jaber refugee camp in Jericho, in the eastern West Bank.

Israel has stepped up raids and arrests across the West Bank after four attacks in Israel left 14 people, including three police officers, dead.

At least 47 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis since the start of 2022.

Jenin has become the target of increasing Israeli military raids, arrests and targeted assassinations, in an attempt to crack down on growing Palestinian armed resistance there.

Fears are rampant of a possible large-scale Israeli invasion of the camp, where the armed wings of the PIJ and Fatah movements are active.

Israeli forces have killed 11 Palestinians over the past two weeks in the West Bank, including six from Jenin.

Last week, when the Jewish festival of Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan overlapped, settler incursions under police protection led to daily confrontations with Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, with many Palestinians injured and arrested.

Weeks of protests against the forced displacement of Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem, and raids by Israeli forces on Al-Aqsa during Ramadan last year, escalated into a widespread uprising across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, and an 11-day assault on the Gaza Strip.