Palestinian killed, 28 others injured in Israeli strike in occupied West Bank

By Awad Rjoub and Zein Khalil

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - A Palestinian was killed and 28 others were injured on Saturday in an Israeli drone strike targeting the Balata refugee camp east of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank.

One Palestinian was killed and 28 others injured, including three seriously, due to Israeli army's raid on Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said in a statement.

An Israeli drone strike targeted a group of citizens in the al-Jamasin neighborhood in Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus city, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Saturday’s fatality raises the number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army in the West Bank to 591, with nearly 5,400 injured since Oct. 7, according to official Palestinian data.

“As part of the operations conducted by the Israeli army in Nablus, a drone carried out an airstrike,” the Israeli army said in a statement on X without providing further details.

Earlier in the day, an Israeli soldier was injured in a shooting attack targeting a military site near Nablus, according to an Israeli army statement.

​​​​​​​Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, amid a deadly Israeli offensive that killed nearly 39,300 people in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023.

In a landmark opinion on July 19, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land "illegal" and called for the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala​​​​​​​