TUBAS (Palestine): Residents of the al-Fara Refugee Camp located south of Tubas, a city in the northeast of the West Bank, Palestine were last Friday surprised by an Israeli military ambush, which residents described as the bloodiest attack in the West Bank.
The Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA) reported that the ambush resulted in the death of six residents, while nine others were injured when Israeli forces surrounded their camp at around nine in the morning before firing indiscriminately at the camp.
According to Khalid Mansour, an activist and resident of al-Fa'ra camp, "After surrounding the camp, some snipers climbed onto the roof of nearby buildings including the medical complex of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). They then fired indiscriminately at us killing six people."
"The Israeli army often targets refugee camps since these camps are crowded with Palestinians", he said.
The al-Fara Refugee Camp, which was founded in 1949, houses a total of 6,350 refugees based on data from the Palestinian Statistics Centre in the middle of this year.
Khalid explained that among those who died, some were killed simply because they wanted to go out to see what was happening around their homes and some were killed while trying to pull their neighbour who had been shot dead in front of his house.
"The saddest part is the youngest victim among them was Mahir Abdullah Jawabirah, 14, who was the nephew of Mahir Jawabirah who was killed along with six other victims during the beginning of the al-Aqsa Intifada in 2001 when the Israeli army shelled the area near the same refugee camp, " he said.
Another resident of the camp, Umm Muhammad confirmed that this attack was the most devastating and dangerous compared to previous attacks.
In addition to shooting indiscriminately, the Israeli forces also deliberately damaged our property, especially vehicles. Some are riddled with bullets, some have been completely burned," she said.
Earlier, Israeli forces had targetted other refugee camps in the West Bank including Jenin Camp, Tulkarm, Nur Shams and Aqabat Jaber, making al-Fara Camp a new episode in a series of planned Israeli attacks.
The media reported that the number of casualties in the West Bank and al-Quds since the beginning of 2023 reached 478 people, while the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that 272 people had died since Israel began its attack on Oct 7 in the Gaza Strip until last Friday, bringing the number of those killed in Gaza to 17 thousand. – BERNAMA