BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces Wednesday shot and killed a Palestinian woman at the Zaatara (Tappuah) military checkpoint south of the occupied West Bank district of Nablus. Israeli media reported that the Palestinian woman approached Israeli border police stationed at the checkpoint and attempted to carry out a stab attack, prompting the officers to open fire at the woman and "neutralize" her. She was reported dead by Hebrew language media outlets. more

Israeli forces on Thursday shot and killed a Palestinian at the Zaatara (Tappuah) military checkpoint south of Nablus after he reportedly attempted to stab an Israeli soldier, Israeli police said. Israeli police spokesperson Luba al-Samri said in a statement that a taxi stopped suddenly at the checkpoint and a passenger exited the vehicle, attempting to stab an Israeli soldier. Israeli forces on site shot the man several times before he was pronounced dead, and began chasing the taxi that brought the man to the checkpoint, al-Samri said. Earlier Thursday, a 21-year-old Palestinian, Yahya Yusri Taha, was killed by Israeli soldiers when clashes broke out during a search and arrest raid in the town of Qatanna. Locals told Ma'an that Taha was shot in the head and left on the ground bleeding for more than an hour-and-a-half while Israeli soldiers denied Palestinian ambulances access to the young man to administer medical treatment. Thursday’s incident at Zaatara marks the third Pal...

Two Palestinians were shot in the Nablus district on Friday after allegedly attempting to stab an Israeli border policeman at a military checkpoint, Israel's army said. An Israeli army spokesperson said two Palestinians tried to stab an Israeli border policeman at the Tappuah, or Zatara, checkpoint south of Nablus, with both attackers shot. Israeli police confirmed that one Palestinian was killed and the other man shot and "captured," with his condition thought to be critical. The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the man killed as Qassem Mahmoud Sabaneh from Jenin. Director of the ambulance and emergency unit of the Red Crescent, Abed al-Halim Jafreh, told Ma'an that medics treated the critically injured man at the scene. Sabaneh died from multiple gunshot wounds, he added, with medics prohibited from reaching his body. The area, including the checkpoint, was closed following the incident. more

From the Electronic Intifada - This video shows Israeli undercover forces invading a hospital in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus early on Sunday morning and kidnapping a Palestinian patient. Meanwhile, two more Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces Sunday and Monday, including a 12-year-old child. Samir al-Khayyat, the medical director of the Specialized Arab Hospital, told Ma’an News Agency that the Israeli agents, disguised as Palestinians accompanying a patient, entered the hospital around 4am. They went up to the third floor and kidnapped 23-year-old Karam al-Masri from his bed at gunpoint. The Israelis reportedly disabled security cameras, but apparently not all of them. The video above has been published by several Palestinian and Israeli media outlets. more

BEIT FURIK (Ma'an) -- Hundreds of Israeli troops were searching for suspected Palestinian gunmen on Friday after the killing of a settler couple between the illegal Israeli settlements of Itamar and Elon Moreh near Nablus in the northern West Bank on Thursday evening. A Ma'an reporter said dozens of Israeli army vehicles were stationed near Huwwara and searching vehicles in the area. The Beit Furik military checkpoint was only open in one direction, with Palestinian residents prohibited from leaving. Residents told Ma'an that they had been waiting outside at the checkpoint all night to return to their homes. Israeli soldiers reportedly told residents that the checkpoint was closed to prevent clashes with settlers, who had gathered at the other side of checkpoint and were threatening Palestinians. Dozens of settlers protested at the Zatara checkpoint in southern Nablus chanting "Death to Arabs" and calling for a response to the killing of the two settlers, as I...

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli troops shot dead a young Palestinian man in the northern West Bank on Monday after he allegedly attempted to stab an Israeli Border Police officer, the Israeli army said. An Israeli army spokeswoman alleged that the Palestinian man approached Israeli Border Police officers at Tappuah junction, known to Palestinians as Zaatara military checkpoint, asking for "medical assistance." She said that he struggled with the officer, before other officers opened fire on him. The spokeswoman confirmed that he had been killed. She added that the police officer was lightly injured. Palestinian witnesses said that Israeli forces closed the checkpoint to traffic as large numbers of troops deployed in the area. more

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian man at a military checkpoint south of Nablus on Monday, Israel's army and media said. The Hebrew-language website of Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Israeli soldiers stopped a man for inspection at the Zaatara checkpoint. The man requested to go to the bathroom and then attempted to run away, the news site said. Israeli soldiers reportedly fired gunshots into the air before firing at his "lower extremities," with a direct hit confirmed, the report said. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed the incident but could not provide further details. An Israeli police spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. On Friday, three Palestinians were killed by Israeli military forces and civilians in a day of deadly violence. On Friday morning an 18-month-old was killed in an arson attack carried out by suspected Israeli settlers, near Nablus. more

Israeli forces shot and seriously injured a Palestinian man in al-Fara refugee camp north of Nablus on Thursday, locals said. Rabee Jamal Mubarak, 22, was shot in the back and abdomen, witnesses said, as Israeli forces raided the camp. He was taken to hospital in hospital where he is said to be in a stable condition.Soldiers detained Ahmad Rashad Sawalma before leaving the camp. In April,Muhammad Yahiya, 18, was killed by Israeli forces in Jenin, while another teenager was killed in East Jerusalem for allegedly running at Israeli police "wielding a knife." more

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces shot and killed a young Palestinian man and injured another near Nablus late Saturday, local sources said. Locals said Israeli troops opened fire at a group of Palestinian youths after they threw Molotov cocktails at Israeli setter vehicles driving on a bypass road near the village of Burin south of Nablus. Ahmed Ibrahim Jaber al-Najjar, 19, was killed and another Palestinian was lightly injured. A large number of Israeli troops rushed to the area following the shootings. An Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma'an that a group of Palestinians hurled Molotovs at "a civilian road" in the area. Soldiers responded by shooting live fire at the Palestinians' "lower extremities," she said. The spokeswoman said two hits were confirmed -- one Palestinian was hit in the leg and another was hit and injured. more

Israeli soldiers invaded, on Wednesday at dawn, several Palestinian communities in the northern West Bank district of Nablus, and the southern West Bank district of Hebron, and kidnapped 18 Palestinians. Many residents injured near Jenin. The Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) has reported that dozens of military vehicles invaded the Balata and ‘Askar Al-Jadeed refugee camps, in Nablus, and kidnapped twelve Palestinians. WAFA said the soldiers ransacked dozens of homes in the two refugee camps while searching them, interrogated families, and detonated the main door of one of the raided homes, belonging to former political prisoner, Bashir Hashash. It added that some of the invaded homes belong to Palestinian security and police officers. The kidnapped in Balata have been identified as Ayman Kharma, Mohammad Tirawi, Mohammad Saqer, Shaher an-Najma, Mahmoud Abu ‘Ayyash, Mohammad Ali Hashash, and ‘Ammar Mit’eb, Abdul-SalamAbu Rezeq. In ‘Askar, the soldiers kidnapped Kamal ...

Israeli soldiers surrounded a high school near Nablus on Monday and fired gunshots and tear gas canisters into the yard, a local official said. Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, said hundreds of children were trapped in the secondary school in Burin as Israeli forces fired tear gas and stun grenades outside. Witnesses said they also fired gunshots in the air. The Israeli liaison department notified its Palestinian counterpart that Israeli soldiers raided the school after youths from the village threw stones and empty bottles at settler vehicles on a nearby main road. more

Israeli settlers, on Saturday, attacked Palestinian homes in the Hebron neighborhood of al-Ja‘bari with stones, while Israeli soldiers stood by and watched indifferently, and without taking any actions to stop them, WAFA reports. Hurling stones at the homes, the extremists cursed the owners and shouted anti-Arab racist slogans, including “Death to the Arabs”, spreading panic and fear among Palestinian locals. Locals called upon human rights organizations to intervene and provide them with protection. In the Nablus village of Aqraba, on Friday, Israeli settlers again cut down over 50 olive trees. Over 7,500 olive trees were damaged or destroyed by settlers between January and mid-October in 2012, according to OCHA. more

A Palestinian teenager was shot and injured by Israeli troops early Wednesday morning in clashes in Askar refugee camp east of Nablus in the northern West Bank. Palestinian security sources told Ma’an that Israeli forces stormed the city of Nablus as well as Askar camp and the al-Makhfiyya neighborhood east of the city and clashed with young Palestinian men. The sources reported that 14-year-old Ahmad Mazin was shot in his foot. more

A number of extremist Israeli settlers invaded, Thursday, the village of Qusra, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and attacked property before local villagers chased them, and briefly detained two. Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official in charge of Israeli Settlements file in northern West Bank, said the settlers came from Yesh Kodesh illegal settlement, south of the village. Daghlas added that local youths surrounded the invading settlers, and held two of them for more than 30 minutes, before the Palestinian District Coordination office intervened, and handed them to the Israeli side. more

Hundreds of Israeli Jews visited Joseph's Tomb in Nablus in the occupied West Bank overnight under the guard of Israeli soldiers, locals told Ma'an. Witnesses said more than 30 military vehicles escorted eight buses carrying Israelis. Palestinian protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the military vehicles as they drove near Balata refugee camp and Askar camp, the sources said. Israeli troops responded with tear gas and rubber-coated bullets. Jewish groups frequently visit Joseph's Tomb under the protection of Israeli forces, who deploy heavily in the area and often get into clashes with youth from the neighboring Balata refugee camp during these visits. Despite lying in an area under Palestinian authority deep in the West Bank, Israeli forces maintain control at the site and prohibit Muslims from praying there. more

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces killed a 24-year-old Palestinian man in Nablus overnight Sunday during a raid in the village of Qabalan, local officials and witnesses said. Qabalan mayor Hisham al-Azaar told Ma'an that Israeli forces killed Zakariyya Mousa Dawood al-Aqra, 24, after laying siege to a building in the village. Al-Aqra's brother is reported to live in one of the apartments in the three story building, which Israeli forces attacked with grenades and heavy gunfire. A neighboring apartment of 45-year old Kamal Farah al-Azaar was also attacked during the bombardment, injuring his wife Inshirah, 38, his daughters Nawal, 7, Manal, 15, and his 4-year old son Jalal. Bulldozers then destroyed part of the building before Israeli soldiers entered and shot al-Aqra dead, witnesses said. more

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli military forces demolished a number of homes and steel structures south of Nablus on Monday, a Palestinian official and an Israeli spokesperson said. Ghassan Daghlas, a PA official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an that dozens of military vehicles raided the village of Khirbet al-Tawil and demolished steel structures, water wells, and several homes made from corrugated iron, without providing further details. An spokesperson for Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories confirmed the demolitions in a statement. "Today (Monday) early in the morning security forces carried out the demolition of 7 buildings that were built illegally inside firing zones," the statement said. more

[Saturday, February 15, 2014] A young Palestinian woman was shot and wounded after Israeli soldiers opened fire at a Palestinian car close to a military roadblock, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. The sources said Nihad Kamal Aqel, 17 years of age, was shot by a live round to her thigh, and was moved to the Rafidia governmental hospital suffering a moderate injury. The Israeli army alleged the soldiers opened fire at the car after the driver failed to stop at a temporary roadblock installed by the soldiers, close to the Yitzhar settlement, south of Nablus. more

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Dozens of Israeli settlers late Friday appropriated approximately five acres of Palestinian land in the village of Asira al-Qibliya in the Nablus district, a Palestinian Authority official said. Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlements in the Nablus district, told Ma'an that dozens of Israelis from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar surrounded the land with fences in the al-Bir area near the settlement. more

[Monday morning September 23, 2013] a group of armed extremist Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian orchard, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and uprooted its trees. “Death To Arabs” Graffiti found near Tel Aviv. Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of Israeli Settlements File at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, stated that the settlers illegally occupied the land before uprooting it. He added that dozens of settlers arrived into the area, located near the Awarta-Aqraba road, close to the Itamar illegal settlement, and carried out their attack while Israeli soldiers, who arrived at the site, did not attempt to stop them. The attack came a few hours after Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, decided to boost settlement activities in the occupied territories, and to allow the settlers into a Palestinian home in Hebron. more