Icon of 2000 Palestinian Intifada killed in Israeli attack

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli army announced on Thursday that it had killed Abdul Aziz Salha, a Palestinian who was a symbol of resistance during the Second Palestinian Intifada of 2000.

Salha was killed in an airstrike on Deir al-Balah in central Gaza on Wednesday night, the Israeli army said in a statement.

In Oct. 2000, an image of a Palestinian with blood on his hands looking out of a window at a Palestinian police station circulated worldwide.

Salha, from Deir Jarir east of Ramallah, was accused of involving in the killing of two Israeli soldiers who had entered Ramallah in the West Bank mistakenly. An Israeli court had awarded him a life sentence.

However, Salha was later released and transferred to Gaza as part of a 2011 prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas, mediated by Egypt.

The army noted that Salha had participated in the killing of the Israeli soldiers in 2000 and claimed that "in recent years, he was involved in directing operations in the West Bank.”

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last Oct. 7, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 41,800 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 96,700 others injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala in Istanbul