Palestinian officials claimed that an Israeli raid on the occupied West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp on Thursday resulted in the deaths of nine Palestinians, including an elderly woman. They also claimed that tear gas was used in a hospital children’s ward.
The health ministry reported “nine martyrs, including an elderly woman” and multiple wounded.
“Occupation forces stormed Jenin Government Hospital and intentionally fired tear gas canisters at the paediatric department in the hospital,” the Palestinian health minister Mai al-Kaila claimed in a separate statement.
She said that Israeli forces were preventing ambulances from reaching the wounded, and that the situation in the refugee camp was “critical.”
Read: It’s A Genocide! The Visibly Invisible Conflict of Palestine
When AFP inquired about the health minister’s tear gas allegation, the Israeli army declined to provide any information.
The only statement the military has made is that its “forces are operating in Jenin.”
With the deaths on Thursday, 29 Palestinians, including fighters and civilians, have been killed in the West Bank this year. The majority of the victims were shot by Israeli forces.
Read: Palestine, Kashmir conflicts take stage at UN where Ukraine dominated
According to AFP, the residents of Jenin were experiencing a “real state of war.”
He stated to AFP that the Israeli army was “destroying everything and shooting at everything that moves.”
The rising death toll comes after the deadliest year since the United Nations began keeping records in the Palestinian territory in 2005.