Israel injures several Palestinians in dawn raid on Aqabat Jabr, amid multiple attacks in Palestine

Six Palestinians were wounded during a dawn raid on Wednesday by Israeli occupation forces at the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp south of the West Bank city of Jericho.

Israeli forces stormed the camp in a wide-ranging search and detention campaign, raiding several houses to search for young men, according to The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister site Al Araby Al Jadeed.

Israel failed to apprehend the young men, whose identities are not yet known, while the charges against them have also not at this time been revealed.

An Israeli solider was wounded by a Molotov cocktail and one of their armoured personnel carriers was damaged after being targeted by Palestinians resisting the raid.

شبابنا ملااااح ملاااح ملااااح ✌️

استهداف آلية لجيش الاحتلال بزجاجة حارقة خلال التصدي لاقتحام مخيم #عقبة_جبر بأريحا. pic.twitter.com/N2ZmPACDU4

— AsmaAlmadhoun #أنقذوا_الأسير_وليد_دقة (@AsmaAlmadhoun) May 24, 2023

All of the injured Palestinians were moved to hospital for treatment, with all the wounds reported to be in the lower parts of the body.

The dawn road comes as Israeli forces carried out multiple raids across other parts of Palestine in the last twenty-four hours.

In Jerusalem on Wednesday, dozens of Israeli settlers broke into the compounds of the al-Aqsa mosque, under protection from the Israeli security forces, according to WAFA News Agency.

The Waqf, which is the religious body that controls and manages the al-Aqsa compound, said the settlers approached the mosque from al-Maghariba gate and performed Jewish prayers and rituals, which is forbidden by a long standing status quo agreement which only allows Muslim worship at the site.

On the same day, in the town of Kafr Dan near Jenin, Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian man, with four others from that town being detained and a fifth man from the nearby village of Burqin also taken into Israeli custody. Again, Israel has given no official reason for the raid.

The soldiers also blew up a vehicle belonging to the father of the one of the men, according to local sources, as well as raiding and ransacking numerous houses.

There were also reports of Israeli forces storming several neighbourhoods in Isawiya in occupied East Jerusalem, as well as the deployment of tear gas against Palestinians during a raid in the town of Beit Ummar in the southern West Bank.

At least 150 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of 2023. Israel has been launching near-daily raids on Palestinian towns and cities in the West Bank since March 2022 and these intensified after the current far-right government came to power in Israel in November last year.

  Last week, two-year-old Mohammed Tamimi died after being shot in the head when Israeli forces opened fire on his family's vehicle near Ramallah.