Palestinians in West Bank unable to access healthcare amid Israeli attacks, restrictions
Doctors Without Borders says Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are finding it increasingly difficult to access healthcare services amid Israeli attacks and restrictions.
The group, known by its French acronym MSF, said Palestinians who live in refugee camps in Tulkarem and Jenin are trapped and blocked from accessing healthcare facilities, especially during Israeli military incursions. And people with life-threatening injuries must wait to reach hospitals, and in many cases, die before getting there.
MSF also said people in Hebron are reporting frequent roadblocks, military raids and attacks by Israeli settlers creating obstacles to medical care. Mahmud Mousa Abu Eram, a man from Hebron, told MSF that people have to “walk for hours” or use donkeys to reach health facilities. “There hasn’t been transportation in this area for a long time, and even if there is a car to drop us to any clinic, the Israeli army confiscates the cars,” he told MSF.
We continue to witness a shocking increase in extreme violence & restrictions against Palestinians in the West Bank, Palestine.
🔴 479 Palestinians, including 116 children, have been killed by Israeli forces & settlers in the West Bank since 7 October👇https://t.co/ObGelVMK3h
— MSF International (@MSF) May 15, 2024
Israeli military kills Palestinian man in occupied East Jerusalem
Israeli forces have shot a Palestinian man who they claimed had attempted to stab them on Salah al-Din Street in occupied East Jerusalem, the Wafa news agency reports.
Security camera footage of the incident shows the man standing yards away from an Israeli soldier before charging at him. The man is then shot before falling to the ground.
This is the fourth killing in the last 24 hours in the occupied West Bank. Israeli forces shot dead three men during a raid on the city of Tulkarem.
Israeli soldiers attack Palestinian farmers near Bethlehem
Israeli forces have attacked a number of Palestinian farmers south of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, Wafa news agency is reporting.
Jaafar Assi, 55, said Israeli forces attacked him and a number of other farmers while they were working on their land with grape vines in Wadi al-Diyar, adjacent to the illegal Israeli settlement of Efrat, located on the lands of the town of al-Khader.
He said Israeli forces threatened them with arrest and confiscation of vehicles and equipment if they returned to working on their land, adding that this is the third time Israeli forces have attacked them during the grape season this year.
Assi said these lands constitute about 80 percent of al-Khader’s agricultural lands, and that Israeli authorities were trying to empty them.
Israeli forces arrest 12 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank: Prisoner’s Society
Israeli forces have arrested at least 12 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank overnight, including children and former prisoners, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society has said.
Arrests were conducted in the governorates of Ramallah, Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Tubas and Qalqilya.
Israeli forces also carried out large-scale raids on exchange shops in all governorates, it said.
More than $1m seized in Israeli raids on Palestinian exchange shops
It’s been another busy night in the occupied West Bank. What stands out is the raids on all 11 branches of one exchange company where four people were also detained. Israel says the exchange company is dealing with “terrorist groups”.
The company estimates that their losses are about 4 million shekels, or more than $1m. In December, the Israeli military carried out similar raids on exchange branches of various companies, including this one. Last time, they said they lost 1 million shekels, close to $300,000.
In the latest raids, computers were confiscated. They even took safes and everything inside them. There were no legal proceedings before these raids. The Israeli forces made accusations and left flyers saying that any sort of association with any armed group makes them guilty of being terrorists.
This has the hallmarks of a heist more than any sort of police action. It has made people more afraid and paranoid. It is yet another example of a kind of collective punishment where Israel accuses civilian businesses of being affiliated with so-called terror groups or armed groups, without providing evidence.
