West Bank killings show Israel’s encouragement of ‘ethnic cleansing’ against Palestinians, Israeli rights group says

Israeli rights group B’Tselem said Monday that the killing of two Palestinians in the village of Deir Jarir in the occupied West Bank was “an example of how Israel encourages ethnic cleansing” against Palestinians, Anadolu reports.

In a statement, the group said Israeli occupiers, soldiers, and police carried out a joint raid on the village, near Ramallah, on Sunday night, with soldiers shooting dead Ahmad Abu Mukh, 26, and Odeh Farajna, 53, and injuring three others.

One of the wounded remains hospitalized in serious condition, it added.

The group said Israeli forces accompanied the occupiers during the raid and helped them steal dozens of sheep.

B’Tselem also published footage taken from an ambulance camera documenting the moment Abu Mukh was shot in the lower abdomen before later dying of his wounds.

“The killings in Deir Jarir showed how Israel encourages ethnic cleansing in the West Bank,” B’Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak said.

“Occupiers invade and loot Palestinian land, while the army and police accompany them and shoot Palestinians who try to protect their homes and property,” Novak said.

She said the international community continues to grant Israel impunity, allowing these assaults to continue.

About 750,000 occupiers live in 141 illegal settlements and 224 outposts across the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, where they carry out repeated attacks aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians.

READ: 2 Palestinians killed, another injured in attack by Israeli occupiers on West Bank village

Since Israel launched its genocide in Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023, the Israeli army and occupiers have intensified attacks on Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank.

B’Tselem said around 1,092 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank since October 2023, including at least 242 children and teenagers.

“Palestinians in the West Bank are exposed daily to systematic Israeli violence, while those responsible enjoy near-total impunity,” the rights group said.

Israeli attacks also include vandalizing and demolishing homes, razing farmland, preventing farmers from reaching their land, displacing Palestinians and expanding illegal settlements.

Palestinians warn that Israel is using these attacks to pave the way for formally annexing the West Bank, undermining the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state as stipulated in UN resolutions.

​​​​​​​In 1948, Israel was established on lands occupied by armed Zionist groups that carried out massacres and displaced at least 750,000 Palestinians. Israel later occupied the rest of the Palestinian territories and continues to refuse withdrawal.

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