@guardian: “Taha was not a soldier. He was a child. He was playing.” Sarah Mahameed, 20, was traumatised by watching her 15-year-old brother Taha die after he was shot by an Israeli sniper in November. Her father, Ibrahim, was also shot while trying to help Taha. He died of his wounds in hospital three months later. Taha was killed in front of their home in Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. It has been nicknamed “Little Gaza” after months of airstrikes and fierce street battles with Israeli forces have wreaked devastation. “There are no rules any more. They just want revenge,” said Mahameed. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) told the Guardian their killings were under review. While battles between the IDF and various Palestinian factions have been going on for decades, with the former stepping up raids in mid 2022, violence has spiralled in the wake of Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on 7 October. Innocent bystanders have increasingly been caught in the crossfire. According to Ocha, the UN’s humanitarian agency, between 7 October 2023 and 24 June 2024, 536 Palestinians, including 130 children, were killed in the West Bank, mostly in clashes with Israeli forces and settlers. The IDF says it operates in the camps and elsewhere in the West Bank to combat terrorism. Our Jerusalem correspondent, Bethan McKernan visited the camp – one of the 19 across the West Bank set up for expelled Palestinians after the creation of Israel – to speak with people there whose lives have all been affected by the escalating violence in the region, and met with those taking up arms in response. Head to the link in bio to watch the full video, and to find out more about how the West Bank city of Jenin and it’s residents are struggling to return to normality after the longest – and deadliest – Israeli military operation in the area for 20 years.

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Friday 13 September 2024 09:47:37 GMT