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The Israeli navy stated Abu Khadija was wished for current capturing assaults on Israeli settlements and safety forces. Troops raided his hideout house in Tulkarem and shot and killed Abu Khadija when he drew his gun, the navy stated, including that the military confiscated an M-16 assault rifle and the automotive he allegedly used to hold out drive-by capturing assaults. Safety forces stated additionally they arrested one other member of the militant group.
The militant group stated Abu Khadija died in an “armed conflict” with Israeli forces. Photos of his blood-soaked physique and his trashed house circulated on-line, as indignant Palestinians mourned what they described as the primary “martyr” of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which started Thursday within the Mideast.
This 12 months, as in years previous, the Muslim fasting month has spurred considerations of a surge in violence within the contested metropolis of Jerusalem. Ramadan overlaps with the Jewish vacation of Passover in early April, elevating the potential of friction as sacred websites in Jerusalem’s Outdated Metropolis host an unusually giant inflow of worshippers and guests. The scared compound housing the Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third-holiest website in Islam. Recognized to Jews because the Temple Mount, it’s additionally the holiest in Judaism.
Including to tensions as Ramadan begins are the situations of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
A bunch representing Palestinian prisoners referred to as this week for a mass starvation strike of not less than 2,000 inmates in protest of far-right Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s toughening of jail measures. The foundations at subject embody showers restricted to 4 minutes, bakeries shut down for prisoners and restricted train time and household visits, in line with prisoner rights teams.
However late Wednesday simply earlier than Ramadan, the prisoners backed down from the protest, claiming a victory in negotiations after they stated Ben-Gvir accepted their calls for. Ben-Gvir denied hanging any take care of prisoners, insisting there had been no change in jail situations and threatening those that go on starvation strike with additional punishment.
Whereas Israel considers Palestinian prisoners to be terrorists, they’re extensively seen as heroes in Palestinian society for resisting an Israeli navy occupation that’s now in its 56th 12 months.
The escalating violence within the West Financial institution beneath Israel’s most right-wing authorities in historical past has angered regional Arab states, together with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which diplomatically acknowledged Israel in 2020. To this point this 12 months, over 85 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli hearth within the West Financial institution, in line with a tally by The Related Press, about half of them affiliated with militant teams. Palestinian assaults in opposition to Israelis have killed 15 individuals, all however considered one of them civilians.
Late Wednesday, the Gulf Cooperation Council denounced what it referred to as “repeated Israeli violations in opposition to the Palestinian individuals” in a press release issued on behalf of the six-nation bloc’s international ministers. The ministers additionally condemned the brand new Israeli authorities’s growth of settlements within the West Financial institution and referred to as once more for negotiations resulting in the institution of an unbiased Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Financial institution and east Jerusalem, territory captured by Israel within the 1967 Mideast warfare.
The GCC is a regional bloc together with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Saudi Arabia and the top of the GCC additionally each condemned an Israeli determination earlier this week to repeal a 2005 act that noticed 4 Jewish settlements within the occupied West Financial institution dismantled. The Saudi Overseas Ministry referred to as the choice “a flagrant violation of all worldwide legal guidelines” that “contributes to undermining regional and worldwide peace efforts.”
Related Press author Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
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