WEST BANK (Dispatches) –
Zionist regime forces have shot dead three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin amid the escalation of the regime’s violence in the Palestinian territories.
The martyrdom of the three who were reportedly members of the Al-Quds Brigades - the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement - came on the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
The Palestinian Ma’an news agency said the incident took place at dawn on Saturday when Zionist troops opened fire at the trio’s car near the entrance to Arraba town, southwest of Jenin.
Citing eyewitnesses, Ma’an said the Zionist troops prevented the ambulances of the Palestinian Red Crescent from reaching the place and informed them at a later time that they did not intend to hand over the bodies of the martyrs and continue to detain them.
The Zionist troops also confiscated the car in which the three Palestinians were traveling.
The news agency said the shooting was carried out by special forces from the regime troops, the occupying regime’s military and its spy agency the Shin Bet.
The Palestinian resistance movement confirmed the martyrdom of its three members, identifying them as Khalil Tawalbeh, 24 years from Jenin, Saif Abu Libdeh, 25 years from Tulkarm, and Saeb Abahra, 30 years from Jenin.
The Palestinian resistance movement described the incident as an aggression against all the Palestinian people, noting that the crime constituted an assault on the sanctity of the holy month of Ramadan.
Holding the regime fully responsible for the killing, the group stressed that the blood of its three members would not be in vain, saying, “The [other] members will continue their path, and they will continue to fight the enemy, confront it and respond to its crimes with determination and steadfastness, no matter what the sacrifices may be.”
Tensions have been running high across the Palestinian territories in recent months.
On Tuesday night, a Palestinian man identified as Diaa Hamarsheh killed five people, including a policeman, before being shot dead in the ultra-orthodox town of Bnei Brak east of Tel Aviv.
On Sunday, two Palestinian gunmen killed two Zionist troops and wounded four others in a retaliatory shooting attack in the northern city of Hadera before being shot dead.
That followed an attack on March 22, when a Palestinian man was fatally shot over an alleged stabbing attack near a shopping center in the southern city of Beersheba, which left four Zionist settlers dead.