The Israeli army has destroyed infrastructure with construction equipment and bulldozers at the Nur Shams Refugee Camp [Issam Rimawi/Anadolu via Getty]
Three men were shot dead by Israeli forces in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank earlier this week, the Palestinian health ministry announced on Friday evening.
The ministry said it was informed by the Palestinian Civil Affairs Authority that the men were killed on Wednesday by Israeli gunfire in the camp, situated east of the city of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank.
They were identified as Jihad Mahmoud Hassan Masharqa, Khaled Mustafa Sharif Amer and Mohammad Ghassan Abu Abed, and their bodies are still being held by the Israeli army, the ministry said.
Other Palestinian online outlets said two of the men – Masharqa and Abu Abed – were fighters who ambushed an Israeli patrol in the camp before being killed.
The Israeli army began a major military attack dubbed ‘Operation Iron Wall’ against the city of Jenin and its adjacent refugee camp on 21 January, which has since expanded to several other West Bank cities and camps including Tubas and Tulkarem.
At least 55 people have been killed as a result of the operations so far, according to official Palestinian figures. The raids have also seen Israel destroy infrastructure using construction equipment and bulldozers.
The assault was launched only two days after the fragile ceasefire in Gaza went into effect.
There had already been a spike in Israeli military and settler violence in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, with at least 870 Palestinians killed since then and thousands more detained, including women and children.
Hundreds of Palestinian detainees being released as part of the Hamas-Israel swap deal are from the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.
