Ten Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank over the course of a week following airstrikes on Gaza.
Israeli warplanes struck sites in the Gaza Strip after a rocket landed in southern Israel, while tensions reached a boiling point in the occupied West Bank, where 10 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since last week.
According to the Associated Press, the Israeli military said the airstrikes targeted a Hamas weapons manufacturing facility and an underground tunnel in the early hours of Sunday.
“The overnight strike continues to impede progress in the build-up of troops,” the Israeli army said in reference to Hamas, according to the Associated Press.
No group has claimed responsibility for the rocket, which was reportedly the first to be fired in a month, and the Israeli military said it landed in an open field near Israel’s separation wall on Saturday night. cause personal injury or property damage.
An Israeli soldier shot and killed 23-year-old Palestinian youth Ammar Mufleh at point-blank range in broad daylight on Friday, an incident captured on video ahead of an airstrike in Gaza. The harrowing footage sparked widespread outrage among Palestinians and calls on social media to step up resistance to the Israeli occupation.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has condemned the shooting at Mufleh as tantamount to an execution, and Palestinian activists and social media users are using the hashtag “Huwara Execution” in Arabic to call for a response to the Israeli army’s crimes.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell issued a statement saying he was “very concerned by the growing violence” in the occupied West Bank.
“In the past few days alone, 10 Palestinians have been killed by the ISF (Israeli Security Forces). Yesterday’s tragic killing of Palestinian man Ammar Mifleh by members of the ISF (Israeli Security Forces) is the latest example,” Borrell said.
“Such unacceptable facts must be investigated and full responsibility must be taken. Under international law, lethal force may only be used when there is a serious and imminent threat to life,” he said.
So far this year, at least 207 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the occupied territories of East Jerusalem.
