Three shot dead in West Bank violence

One Israeli was killed and several wounded at Al Zaeem checkpoint, near Ma’ale Adumim

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Israeli forces killed two Palestinians it said were responsible for a shooting that left one Israeli dead and several wounded near the occupied West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim on Thursday morning.

Brothers Muhammad and Kadam Zohra, aged 26 and 31, from Bethlehem, were shot dead near Al Zaeem checkpoint, Israeli media quoted the police’s West Bank commander Uzi Levy as saying.

A third Palestinian was shot and severely wounded, also confirmed by the official Palestinian Wafa news agency, which reported the Israeli army “opened fire” on the men.

Israel said the men were responsible for killing an Israeli and wounding several others as they waited to pass through the checkpoint, which connects the settlement with Jerusalem.

Several of the injured are in serious condition, Israel’s emergency services said.

Violence in the West Bank has only risen since the war in Gaza broke out in October, with Israel launching multi-day raids and drone strikes across the Palestinian territory.

Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 400 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Gaza war began, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah said.

Three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli raid in Jenin on Wednesday.

While Israel claims to target members of Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas, children, elderly, and unarmed Palestinians have been killed by the military.

Settler attacks have also increased, prompting several Western nations, including the US, Israel’s closest ally, to impose sanctions on Israelis suspected of attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.

The attack comes as the death toll in Gaza nears 30,000, with more than a million Palestinians bracing for an Israeli offensive on the southern border city of Rafah.

Israel has concentrated recent air strikes on Rafah and areas in central Gaza, including Deir Al Balah and Nuseirat refugee camp.

Seventeen people were killed in a single air strike on a family home in Nuseirat on Wednesday evening, the Wafa news agency reported.

Gazans say they have little, if anything, to return to if they have to flee Rafah.

Most of northern Gaza, where Israel concentrated its initial ground offensive, lies in ruins, and the UN’s food agency has suspended deliveries to the area amid a “breakdown in civil order”, compounding risks of famine.

Starving Palestinians are now grinding animal feed to make food, and feeding herbs to their children.

In the northern Jabilia refugee camp, “flour and canned foods have run out”, residents told media.