Two Palestinians shot dead in West Bank violence

The two were killed in clashes that erupted when Israeli troops stormed the refugee camp to demolish the home of Palestinian Mohammed Abu Shahin early on Monday.

Israeli forces have arrested a Palestinian suspect in a drive-by shooting that killed two Israelis in the West Bank, the internal Shin Bet security service said Sunday.

Violence since the start of October has killed 83 people on the Palestinian side – including one Arab Israeli – and 12 Israelis. As the body of one of the dead Palestinians was brought in by ambulance and taken to the morgue, the anger among the youth of Qalandiya camp was palpable.

Residents threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at the soldiers, who fired back, the witnesses said, killing two people and wounding others.

An Israeli chopper kept, meanwhile, hovering over the territory to ensure the safe backtracking of the army troops.

The mother of Abu Shaheen, whose home was destroyed, said that more than a dozen soldiers came to the house around 2:15 a.m. and told those inside to leave and wait at a soccer field. First reported by Palestinian Media Watch, the campaign shows Fatah’s willingness to blame Israel for anything and everything, according to the site.

Three of the homes were destroyed in Nablus, in the northern West Bank, and the other in Silwad, northeast of Ramallah.

“I am sure if they are continuing with these processes, there will be reactions like this”, he said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel recently pledged to expedite the legal process for approving demolitions as part of efforts to curb the recent wave of violence.

This time around, Israeli forces forcibly evacuated everyone inside the home, located on the third floor of an apartment complex, before destroying it.

“We urge the authorities to carry out independent, thorough, prompt and impartial investigations into all suspected cases of extra-judicial, arbitrary and summary executions, and to provide compensation to the victims or their families”, the United Nations experts said. Israel at times carries out such demolitions as punishment for attacks on its citizens.

A Palestinian protester uses a slingshot to hurl stones during clashes with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank village of Halhul, near Hebron, Saturday, November 14, 2015.

Those operations also sparked clashes in which nine Palestinians were wounded, two of them by live ammunition.

At least three other Palestinians in Qalandia refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, were wounded in what was the fiercest armed confrontation in a seven-week-old surge of violence.