The Israeli army demolished on Thursday in the occupied West Bank the home of a Palestinian accused of having committed an attack in which two Israelis had died in November, leading to clashes with residents of Ramallah.
Clashes broke out in the night when the army entered the city, noted an AFP journalist. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 35 people were injured, including 20 by live ammunition. A Palestinian photojournalist was hit, according to concordant sources.
Using explosives, the Israeli army destroyed the first floor of the small building where Eslam Froukh lived, arrested in December by the Israeli security forces and accused of having committed an attack in November at the entrance to Jerusalem.
A 15-year-old Israeli-Canadian teenager and an Israeli man in his 50s succumbed to their injuries in the attack.
“The house was destroyed after an appeal to the (Israeli) Supreme Court against the destruction was rejected,” the army said in a statement.
Israel regularly destroys the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out anti-Israeli attacks. The government defends the dissuasive effect of this policy but its detractors denounce a collective punishment affecting families who find themselves on the street.
Oum Eslam Froukh, mother of Eslam, told AFP that the demolition policy “only fuels hatred and (the desire for) revenge”.
During the Israeli incursion, Palestinians threw stones and explosives at military vehicles, according to an AFP journalist on the spot.
The army reported “violent unrest” and said it opened fire and used riot dispersal means. “Affected people have been identified,” she said, adding that no soldiers were injured.
Photojournalist Momen Soumrine was hit by a rubber bullet during the raid in Ramallah, his uncle, Mohammed Soumrine, also a journalist and who was covering the operation with him, told AFP.
The two men were on the roof of a building with other reporters when soldiers fired at them, Soumrine told AFP. “We had to lie down but when Momen wanted to change places he got up and was hit by a bullet.”
“A preliminary investigation suggests that a Palestinian photojournalist…was injured, possibly by a rubber bullet,” the army said in a statement, adding that “details of the incident are under review. “.
The West Bank is a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
08/06/2023 12:56:53 – Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
