Three Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Nablus in span of 24 hours

"These have been four difficult months of anguish, and we are still in a state of grief," Palestinian journalist Rasha Hirzallah, Mohammad Hirzallah’s sister, told The New Arab, struggling to speak.
3 min read
West Bank
24 November, 2022
Mohammad Hirzallah was wounded in July, while Mohammad Abu Kishk was wounded last Tuesday, both during Israeli raids. [Getty]

Two Palestinians succumbed to critical wounds inflicted by Israeli forces late on Wednesday, raising the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Nablus, north of the occupied West Bank, within 24 hours, to three people.

Late on Tuesday, Israeli forces killed 16-year-old Ahmed Shehadeh in a military raid on Nablus with a live bullet to the heart.

Late Wednesday, 30-year-old Mohammad Hirzallah was pronounced dead in the Ramallah public hospital. Hirzallah was wounded in an Israeli raid on Nablus on 24 July by a bullet to the head.

Hours later, 22-year-old Mohammad Abu Kishek was pronounced dead in the Rafidia hospital in Nablus. Abu Kishk was wounded late on Tuesday in the same raid that killed 16-year-old Ahmed Shehadeh.

"These have been four difficult months of anguish, and we are still in a state of grief," Palestinian journalist Rasha Hirzallah, Mohammad Hirzallah's sister, told The New Arab, struggling to speak.

The 'Lions' Den' Palestinian armed group based in Nablus mourned Hirzallah in a statement as one of its members. The group said that Hirzallah was wounded while confronting the Israeli raid that killed Aboud Suboh and Mohammad Azizi, two fighters of the 'Lions' Den'.

"Mohammad Abu Kishk, on the other hand, was a civilian," Mohammad Raei, a human rights activist based in Nablus, told TNA.

"He was on the street when the occupation forces entered Nablus' eastern part, and probably threw stones at them," said Raei. "He was killed by a live bullet in the stomach."

Thursday at noon, thousands of Palestinians took part in the funeral of both Hirzallah and Abu Kishek in Nablus. Mourners carried both bodies, wrapped with Palestinian flags, and circulated Nablus' main square and streets.

Analysis
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The deaths of Hirzallah and Abu Kishk arrive in midst of escalating Israeli violence in the occupied West Bank.

Early on Thursday, Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian school in Masafer Yatta, in the southern Hebron hills, for lack of a building permit.

On Wednesday, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian houses with stones in the village of Burin near Nablus and burned a vehicle.

Since the beginning of 2022, Israeli raids and settler violence have claimed the lives of at least 150 Palestinians in the West Bank.