Israeli forces have fatally shot an eight-month Palestinian pregnant mother and her unborn baby during their raid in the Nur Shams refugee camp northwest of the occupied West Bank.
In a statement carried by the WAFA news agency on Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry identified the victim as Sundus Jamal Shalabi, 23, saying she lost her fetus during the Israeli gunfire that also critically wounded her husband.
Medical teams were unable to save the life of the fetus as the occupation soldiers prevented the transfer of the injured to the hospital, the ministry added.
The pregnant woman and her unborn baby arrived at the Thabet Thabet hospital in the city of Tulkarm martyred, while her husband was transferred to a hospital in Ramallah due to the severity of his condition.
Sundus Shalabi, 23, from Nur Shams Refugee Camp near Tulkarm, was eight months pregnant when she was forcibly displaced with her husband and two children at the start of the Israeli assault on the camp.
Eyewitnesses told WAFA that Israeli snipers, stationed on buildings in Nur Shams, opened fire at Sundus and her husband in the camp’s al-Saleheen area while they were attempting to leave their home and find a safer location.
Early on Sunday, Israeli forces deployed heavy machinery and bulldozers to the Nur Shams camp and stormed dozens of homes.
Reports said that the regime’s troops blocked off access points to the Nur Shams refugee camp and converted homes there into military outposts and sniper positions.
Meanwhile, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that the Israeli soldiers had prevented its medical teams from entering the camp, despite reports of casualties.
Israel continues West Bank raids; Palestine condemns ‘ethnic cleansing’
Israeli forces continue their raids across the occupied West Bank, targeting local Palestinians and their properties.
The Israeli military launched its offensive against the West Bank’s northern areas on January 21, claiming that it was targeting resistance fighters of the Jenin Battalion.
On Saturday, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry called for global action to stop Israel’s ongoing “ethnic cleansing” in the occupied West Bank.
It said the Israeli forces have been raiding the refugee camps of Tulkarem, Jenin and Far’a and “emptying them of their residents” in a blatant violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions.
Israel has ramped up West Bank violence since October 7, 2023, when it launched its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
Since then, the regime forces have killed more than 900 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Press TV’s website
