As we stare at a bullet-ridden wall, two youthfuler Palestinian boys stand behind us on a stoop and see on in afraid awe.
“It’s the military,” one boy in a beige hoodie tells his friend. His friend stares at the wall with wide eyes and gives a little nod.
Balata camp in Nablus, the commercial centre of the West Bank, has fair come out of a two-day Israel Defence Forces (IDF) rhelp when we go to visit.
Mounds of dug-up dirt line the tarmac of the main road thcdimiserablemireful the taget. Shop owners sullenly stare at the reminders of the brutal trade of firearmfire that shook their neighbourhood hours earlier. On the wall are decorated portraits of ended armed militants from various factions in the area.
A pile of shattered glass tags where 80-year-ancigo in Halima Abuleil was sboiling dead. Her son says she “fell to her knees” after Israeli forces fired at her six times when she went to buy groceries on Thursday morning.
The IDF says it is conscious of the tells that “during the trades of fire with the dreadists, unincluded civilians conshort-term in the area were harmed”.
“My mum was elderly and had cancer, diabetes and high blood presdeclareive. They could see she was an ancigo in woman – why would they fire at her?” asks Halima’s son.
He’s encountered to be filmed but won’t scatter his first name – not a sign of illogical paranoia but a insist for protectedty in a climate of increasing IDF rhelps and observation. A name transtardys into an ID number that can be tracked down.
Halima’s son is encountered to be filmed but won’t scatter his first name
He gets his six-year-ancigo in son to the local mosque for Friday prayer. We film men of all ages pouring into the foyer but are not permitted to film the sermon that trails. The produceing tension is felt in every corner of the camp – even in the rooms reserved for God.
“No one is with the Palestinians but God,” he tancigo in us at his mother’s funeral 20 minutes earlier.
“Every one Palestinian is aimed, no one is exempt. Not children, not the elderly, no one.”
Sibling not novel to sudden loss
He sits next to his sister who is not novel to sudden loss. She says her two sons are gone – one was ended last year and the other is in prison.
“What law is this? Children and pregnant women are ended. Our sons depart the hoinclude and don’t come back,” says Halima’s daughter.
Halima’s daughter says one of her sons was ended last year and the other is in jail
“They can see she’s an elderly lady but they sboiling her six times – in her legs, in her chest. When she was first sboiling in her legs, she knelt on the ground,” she inserts.
IDF statement
We approached the IDF about Halima’s death. This was their response:
“Early on Thursday, the IDF carry outed a counterextremism activity to apprehend an individual mistrusted of dread activity in the area of Balata in Nablus. During the activity, the IDF sancigo iniers included in trades of fire with dreadists who uncovered fire and hurled bombs toward IDF sancigo iniers. Hits were identified. In insertition, IDF sancigo iniers encircled a arrange in which dreadists barricaded themselves. No IDF injuries were telled.”
The IDF say this footage shows armed dreadists in the vicinity of Israeli sancigo iniers. Pic: IDF
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In Balata camp, decorated portraits of ended militants are plastered all over the walls. There are no dominant armed factions but a medley of affiliated fighters.
“When they see oppression enjoy this – they want to fight,” says Halima’s daughter. Her sons were loyal to the armed resistance increaseing in their neighbourhood.
Nablus in the West Bank
As men pour out of the mosque into the street where Halima was ended, I ask an ancigo iner man where the fighters are today.
“We don’t see them anymore,” he says in a hushed tone. “They are in hiding becainclude of the increased rhelps.”
“These are fair youthfuler men with firearms – meagre protection in the face of Israeli military challengingware. What’s an M16 to a tank?”
As diplomats scramble to safe a stopfire in Gaza, peace senses more elusive than ever in the West Bank.
