Heavy gunfire, clashes as Israeli soldiers raid Nablus
Heavy gunfire has been heard as clashes broke out during an Israeli raid on the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reported.
The Israeli soldiers carried out the raid to make preparations to escort settlers to the shrine known as Joseph’s Tomb on the outskirts of Nablus, Wafa reported. The shrine, which is also known as Yusuf’s Tomb, is a significant site for followers of the Abrahamic faiths, including Christians, Jews, Muslims and Samaritans.
Israeli forces arrest 9 Palestinians in overnight West Bank raids
Israeli soldiers have arrested at least nine Palestinians and searched their homes during raids across the occupied West Bank, Wafa reports.
The arrests included:
- six young men from the village of Faqqua, northeast of Jenin;
- a young man from the city of Qalqilya; and
- two men from Nahalin, west of Bethlehem.
The arrests come as negotiations continue over the exchange of captives held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israel as part of a potential deal to end the war in Gaza.
More than 9,700 Palestinians were being imprisoned by Israel as of the beginning of July, including 3,380 people held in administrative detention, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said on Sunday.
Irregular entry of 40,000 job seekers from West Bank worries Israel: Report
About 40,000 undocumented Palestinians from the occupied West Bank have entered Israel through gaps in the separation wall, most of them seeking to earn a living after Israel stopped issuing work permits for them after last year’s Hamas attack, according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
It represents “an alarming phenomenon that has returned on a large scale”, according to the report.
The suspension of work permits for Palestinians is damaging both sides of the barrier, as Israel’s construction and agricultural industries find it difficult to operate as unemployment rates in the occupied West Bank have exceeded 30 percent – a figure not seen in recent years.
Yedioth Ahronoth said more than 100,000 Palestinian workers who used to work in Israel have found themselves without a source of livelihood. “Unemployment and hunger serve extremists and not moderates … and that despair drives them to carry out operations,” it said.
Israeli settlers bulldoze entrance to West Bank city of Salfit
Illegal Israeli settlers have bulldozed the northern entrance to the Palestinian city of Salfit in the occupied West Bank and blocked it with concrete blocks, according to Wafa.
The settlers have destroyed the entrance several times in recent days, blocking the main road connecting Palestinian towns and villages within the governorate, Wafa added. The settlers were from Ariel, one of the largest settlements in the West Bank, which is so close to Salfit that its sewage has been known to pollute the Palestinian town’s water.
Israelis from the Ariel settlement, pictured, have reportedly been repeatedly destroying the northern entrance to the neighbouring Palestinian town of Salfit in the occupied West Bank.
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