Two Palestinians were killed by Israeli army bullets in the West Bank

Palestinians mourning for Muhammad Hoshiyeh and Fouad Abed in Jenin yesterday.

EPA

Palestinian sources said that the Israeli forces killed a Hamas member and another Palestinian during clashes near the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, yesterday, which erupted when the Israeli army arrived to demolish the homes of two gunmen who were killed in a previous incident.

And the two deaths in the village of Kafr Dan are the first deaths of Palestinians since Benjamin Netanyahu assumed the premiership again last week at the head of an extreme right-wing coalition.

The Israeli army confirmed that the raid was carried out to destroy the homes of two Palestinians who killed an Israeli army commander in the West Bank last year before they were killed.

The Israeli army said in a statement that its forces opened fire on Palestinians in Kafr Dan after they attacked it with bullets, petrol bombs and threw stones at it.

There were no injuries or deaths among Israelis during the incident.

Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, said one of the dead, an 18-year-old, was one of its members.

"The escalation of the occupation's crimes against our people will only increase our strength and determination to resist and confront the terrorism and fascism of the new occupation government," Hamas said in a statement.

It is not yet clear if the second dead man, aged 21, was a member of a Palestinian faction.

Last year witnessed the worst levels of violence in the West Bank in more than a decade, most of the violence centered around Nablus and the nearby city of Jenin, during which at least 150 Palestinians and more than 20 Israelis were killed.

And in Ramallah, the Palestinian Prime Minister, Muhammad Shtayyeh, held "the occupation authorities fully responsible for the repercussions that may result from the daily killings and lawlessness."

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