Hamas promises revenge after Israel killed two Palestinians

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has vowed revenge against Israel after regime forces shot dead two young Palestinian men and injured several others during a violent raid at a refugee camp in the eastern flank of the occupied West Bank.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanoua said, “The Zionist enemy will pay a tremendous price.”

“The martyrdom of these two Palestinian youths adds another crime to the bleak rights record and atrocities committed by the occupying extremist Zionist regime,” the spokesman said.

He added that the Zionist entity “will definitely pay for its crimes against the Palestinian nation.”

“All Israeli crimes will not break the Palestinian people’s determination and their adherence to struggle for the liberation of occupied territories,” he added.

In the early hours of Tuesday, a large number of Israeli troops, onboard dozens of military vehicles, stormed Aqabat Jaber refugee camp, located three kilometers southwest of Ariha. The raids resulted in armed clashes with resistance fighters there.

Israeli soldiers broke into several houses in the camp, violently searched the buildings and ransacked all properties before leaving.  Israeli troops took a number of Palestinian men away to an unknown location, according to the residents.

The Ariha Hospital’s director said the two young men were rushed to the hospital with bullets in their chests.

Palestinian officials later identified the two young victims as 16-year-old Qusay Omar al-Walaji from the city of Ariha, and Muhammad Ribhi Nujoom al-Omar, 25. He was a resident of the Aqabat Jaber refugee camp.

Dozens of young Palestinian men gathered in the hospital as soon the news of the young Palestinians’ death broke. They chanted anti-Israel slogans in an expression of outrage and called for determined resistance in the face of the Tel Aviv regime’s occupation.

Israeli forces launch raids on various cities of the West Bank almost on a daily basis under the pretext of detaining what it calls “wanted” Palestinians. The raids usually lead to violent confrontations with residents.

Over the past months, Israel has ramped up attacks on Palestinian towns and cities throughout the occupied territories. As a result of these attacks, dozens of Palestinians have lost their lives and many others have been arrested.

The Israeli raids have targeted Palestinian towns, villages, refugee camps and holy sites, sparking a wave of armed resistance from Palestinian factions.

More than 200 Palestinians have been killed this year in the occupied Palestinian territories and Gaza. The majority of these fatalities have been recorded in the West Bank

The rising number of fatalities has prompted rights groups to condemn the treatment of Palestinians, including attacks on their homes and destruction of their property.

Human rights organizations have documented numerous cases of Israeli soldiers gunning down peaceful Palestinian protesters across the occupied territories. Palestinians stress that such cases must be taken to international courts and Israelis must be held accountable for their atrocities.