Israeli soldiers assault Palestinian boy in occupied West Bank

Israeli soldiers attacked a 13-year-old Palestinian boy last night in Beit Furik, east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, Wafa new agency has reported.

According to local witnesses, the Israeli soldiers entered the town’s Al-Dubat district, where they assaulted the child, detained him for several hours, and only then released him. The incident reflects a recurring pattern of Israeli military operations in Beit Furik, which frequently lead to fighting and Palestinian residents being wounded.

Wafa noted that this incident came after a 16-year-old Palestinian boy was wounded on Sunday evening during an Israeli raid on the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus. The teenager suffered head injuries from bullet shrapnel and was taken to hospital for treatment.

Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank due to Israel’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since 7 October last year. At least 780 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 6,300 others wounded by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry.

The latest escalation follows a landmark opinion in July by the International Court of Justice, which declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land to be “unlawful” and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. All settlements are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

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