WEST BANK (Dispatches) – At least 50 Palestinians have been killed by Zionist troops since the start of this year, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Monday.
A ministry statement said the West Bank city of Jenin recorded the highest death toll, with 17 fatalities, and Nablus with seven deaths.
Only 14 Palestinians lost their lives to Zionist troops’ fire in the same period last year.
In December, the occupying regime media reported that the military has authorized soldiers to open fire on stone-throwing Palestinians.
Tensions have been running high across Palestinian territories since last month, amid repeated the Zionist regime’s arrest campaigns in the occupied West Bank and daily settler incursions into the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in East Al-Quds.
The regime’s troops carried out a fresh round of arrests and raids in the West Bank on Monday as tensions continue to run high.
At least 15 people were detained during army operations in and around the cities of Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Al-Quds.
The army said four of those arrested were suspected of involvement in the operation in Elad on Thursday and the shooting in Ariel settlement a week earlier.
The arrests came after Zionist troops martyred three young Palestinians in separate incidents across the occupied West Bank, amid a flare-up of tensions between Palestinians and the usurping regime in the occupied territories.
In a brief statement, Palestine’s ministry of health announced the martyrdom of Mahmoud Sami Khalil Aram that occurred on Sunday evening, after Zionist troops opened fire on him near the Jbara military checkpoint, south of Tulkarm, the Palestinian Information Center reported.
Israeli media reported earlier that the Palestinian youth, who was from the besieged Gaza Strip, was allegedly trying to cross over the separation wall in Tulkarm.
Separately on Sunday, another Palestinian youth was shot dead by Zionist troops at Bab al-Amoud, also known as Damascus Gate, one of the main gates of the occupied Old City of Al-Quds, over an alleged stabbing attack.
Israeli media said the killing occurred after a Zionist security officer was stabbed outside the Old City, with the attacker shot and killed.
Zionist troops claimed that a “suspect armed with a knife stabbed an officer” outside the Damascus Gate, who was then taken to hospital in moderate condition.
In the third shooting, a Palestinian youth who was trying to open the gate of Tuqu settlement in eastern Bethlehem by shooting at the lock, was discovered and shot by the guard of the settlement.
The occupying regime has escalated its deadly attacks against Palestinians in the run-up to Ramadan and sustained the violence throughout the holy fasting month, stirring up anti-Zionist sentiments throughout the occupied territories.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called for the international community’s immediate intervention after Zionist troops fatally shot the three Palestinians.
“The horrific crimes committed by soldiers of the occupying Israeli regime against our people require urgent intervention by the international community, so that the organized terrorism will stop and international protection for our people will be provided,” Shtayyeh said on Sunday evening.
He stressed that the tyranny of Zionist officials will not impact the Palestinian people’s resolve whatsoever.
“Our people are insistent on protecting our homeland and defending our sanctities, no matter what great sacrifices they would be obliged to make,” the Palestinian prime minister said.