Israeli forces kill pregnant woman in West Bank

RAMALLAH: Palestinian officials said Israeli forces shot dead an eight months pregnant Palestinian in the occupied West Bank Sunday, as the military said it had “targeted terrorists” in the area.

The Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah said Sundus Jamal Muhammad Shalabi was killed in a pre-dawn incident in the Nur Shams refugee camp.

Her husband, Yazan Abu Shola, was also critically injured, the ministry said.

The 23-year-old mother-to-be was dead when she arrived at a local hospital, the ministry said.

“Medical teams were unable to save the baby’s life due to the occupation (Israel’s military) preventing the transfer of the injured to the hospital,” a ministry statement said.

The Israeli military told AFP it was looking into the claim that Shalabi had been killed by Israeli fire.

The incident took place at around dawn, Murad Alyan, a member of the popular committee in the camp, told AFP.

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“The two were trying to leave the camp before the occupation forces advanced into it. They were shot while they were inside their car, and the wife and her baby were martyred, while the husband was injured,” Alyan said.

The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned what it described “a crime of execution committed by the occupation forces this morning”.

The ministry accused Israeli forces of “deliberately targeting defenceless civilians”.

The Israeli army launched a major military operation in the Nur Shams camp at dawn on Sunday, as part of an ongoing operation in the nearby camps of Tulkarem and Jenin.

AFP footage from Nur Shams on Sunday showed army bulldozers clearing a path in front of what appeared to be empty buildings in the densely packed camp, which is home to about 13,000 people.

The Israeli military confirmed that its forces were “expanding the operation in northern Samaria”, using the biblical term for the West Bank.

“The combat team of the Ephraim Brigade began operations in Nur al-Shams,” the military said in a statement, adding that soldiers had “targeted several terrorists and arrested additional individuals in the area”.

The Palestinian health ministry has said at least 70 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the beginning of the year.

Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has escalated since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.

According to the Palestinian health ministry, at least 885 Palestinians, including many fighters, have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since that date.

At least 32 Israelis, including some soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or confrontations during Israeli operations in the region over the same period, according to official Israeli figures.