رPalestinian sources confirmed that a Palestinian youth was shot dead by the Israeli army in the city of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, in clashes on Wednesday night with the Israeli army while securing visitors to a site sanctified by Jews. Dr. Amin Abu Warda, one of Balata camp officials and medical staff at the Arab Specialized Hospital in Nablus, told AFP that "the young man Wassim Nasr Khalifa (18 years), who is from Balata camp, died of critical wounds in the chest and neck during the Israeli army's incursion into the eastern area of ​​the city. The city while securing the settlers' access to Joseph's Tomb, where confrontations took place." The Red Crescent announced that 31 other Palestinians were injured during the confrontations, three of them in a critical condition in Nablus, near Joseph's Tomb. It is a site revered by the Jews because they believe that it contains the remains of the Prophet Joseph, son of Jacob. The Palestinians believe that it is the shrine of a Muslim sheikh who lived his life and died during the Ottoman rule. The site is located close to the Balata and Askar refugee camps, east of the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, and clashes often take place around it between the army and Palestinian youths. For its part, the Israeli army said in a statement that its soldiers worked with the Israeli police forces to secure the entry of worshipers to Joseph's Tomb in the city of Nablus, and during that, "the soldiers opened fire at suspected gunmen who opened fire at them." The statement added, "The soldiers wounded Palestinians, but there were no injuries among them." On the ninth of this month, three Palestinians were killed, including Ibrahim al-Nabulsi, a commander in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and about 69 others were wounded "with live bullets" after the Israeli army stormed the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank occupied by Israel since 1967.

AFP