West Bank (Dispatches) – The Palestinian news agency has reported that a 20-year-old has died of wounds a month after being shot during a raid by Zionist troops in the occupied West Bank.
The WAFA news agency said on Saturday that Ezzedin Kanan, from the town of Jaba near Jenin, was shot in the head on July 3 during one of the most intense raids by the occupying regime’s troops.
An offshoot of the Fatah party, the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, said Kanan was one of its “fiercest fighters” and pledged to avenge his loss.
Armed and masked fighters flanked the mourning procession for Kanan as his body, wrapped in a Palestinian flag and adorned with a headband from the group, was carried through his home village of Jaba.
Kanan’s death brings the total to 14 people martyred in the raid, which lasted two days and included air attacks, hundreds of ground troops and bulldozers that were used to raze roads and buildings.
Under the claim of pursuing “wanted” Palestinians, Zionist troops routinely raid various cities of the West Bank, sparking violent clashes with the residents. The regime’s brutal aggression has resulted in the death of more than 200 Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories and Gaza this year. The majority of these casualties have occurred in the West Bank.
According to the United Nations, 2023 is already the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since it began recording fatalities in 2005.
The previous year, 2022, had been the most lethal year with 150 Palestinians killed, of whom 33 were minors, as reported by the United Nations.
A day earlier, Zionist troops attacked Palestinian worshipers gathering at the Al-Aqsa mosque for Friday prayers, injuring at least eight people.
The occupation forces fired stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets at the worshipers at the Bab al-Asbat, or Lions’ Gate, one of the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Reports say an elderly Palestinian was the first target of the regime attack.
The Israeli occupation police said three of its members were injured in clashes with Palestinians in the area.
The Al-Aqsa mosque has been a scene of frequent assaults by Zionist troops in recent months, as the regime’s right-wing cabinet has escalated its crackdown on Palestinians.
Illegal settler incursions under police protection to the Al-Aqsa Mosque have been on the rise recently as they are encouraged by Tel Aviv-backed temple groups that seek to destroy the mosque and replace it with a Jewish temple.