WEST BANK, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Israeli military escalation continued across the occupied West Bank overnight and into Friday morning, with one Palestinian killed and others wounded amid violent raids, arrests and settler attacks in several areas.
In Jenin, Fathi Khazem, father of slain Palestinians Raad and Abdulrahman Khazem, was shot and killed by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) during a raid on his home in the center of the city after he attempted to confront the soldiers and resisted their mistreatment.
A 14-year-old Palestinian boy was also shot with live ammunition in the chest and back near the Arab American University during Israeli gunfire accompanying the raid. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation.
The IOF arrested writer Mohammad Fares Jaradat in addition to the father of wanted Palestinian Qais al-Bitawi and three other young men from Jenin’s eastern neighborhood. The IOF troops also evacuated a building housing displaced Palestinians.
In the village of Al-Nazla Al-Sharqiya, north of Tulkarem, groups of Jewish settlers carried out a raid, while Israeli forces stormed a home in Tubas.
Israeli forces also raided areas surrounding Nablus Old City and the village of Kafr Qallil, where they arrested a Palestinian man and his son. The IOF also broke into Awarta to secure the performance of Talmudic rituals by Jewish settlers.
A young Palestinian man was detained during a raid on Tubas, where Israeli forces also stormed several homes.
Israeli military raids extended to Jericho, where IOF stormed the Al-Katif neighborhood, while troops raided a home in the Jabal al-Mawaleh area of Bethlehem amid intensified movements by Israeli military vehicles.
In Al-Khalil, Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian homes and sheep pens in Khirbet Deir Shams, near the towns of Al-Samu and Al-Dhahiriya, wounding three Palestinians. Ambulances were prevented from reaching the wounded.
Settlers also set fire to a stone quarry in the Wadi al-Rakhim area of Masafer Yatta, in another attack on Palestinian property.
The attacks coincided with Israeli raids on the Orphans Charitable Society in Beit Ummar and the town of Deir Samet, as well as the arrest of a young Palestinian man from Sair.
The developments come amid an escalating wave of daily Israeli military raids, arrests and settler attacks across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.
Fathi Khazem killed during Jenin raid
Palestinian figure Fathi Khazem, known as Abu Raad, was shot and killed by IOF gunfire early Friday during a raid on his home in Jenin in the northern West Bank. Israeli forces subsequently withheld his body.
Local sources said IOF stormed Khazem’s home near the main roundabout in central Jenin and opened fire at him, killing him before taking his body to an undisclosed location.
Sources also said Israeli forces prevented a Palestinian ambulance from reaching the home to provide medical assistance to an injured person, who was later identified as Khazem.
In another account, local residents said an Israeli special forces unit stormed Khazem’s home and opened fire at him, killing him before removing his body.
The IOF claimed that Khazem had attempted to carry out a stabbing attack against one of its soldiers in the Jenin area, adding that no Israeli soldiers were wounded.
Khazem, a retired colonel in the Palestinian National Security Forces, was known as the “Father of the Martyrs” and had been pursued by Israeli forces, particularly following the killing of his sons Raad and Abdulrahman.
Khazem became widely known after his son Raad carried out a shooting attack on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv in 2022. His other son, Abdulrahman, a commander in the Al-Quds Brigades, was killed during an armed confrontation with IOF in Jenin in September of the same year.
Khazem’s killing comes amid escalating Israeli raids and military operations in Jenin and other areas of the West Bank, alongside continued arrests, home raids and attacks against Palestinians.
