The funeral for one of the six Palestinian men murdered in an Israeli raid on Jenin on Tuesday in Nablus was interrupted by tear gas shot by Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces in Ramallah, the occupied West Bank.
The warrior had been a member of Hamas, and during the funeral on Wednesday, the Palestinian organization’s flag was placed around him, which sparked a dispute with Fatah, a rival organization of Hamas.
The funeral of Abdelfattah Kharousheh, a resident of the Askar refugee camp, was attended by thousands of people.
The drive-by shooting attack that left two Israeli settlers dead on February 26 in the village of Huwara near Nablus is suspected to have been carried out by Kharousheh, according to the Israeli army.
The funeral procession was disrupted by tear gas being fired at mourners shortly after it started, and several PA security forces also made an attempt to obstruct the march with their cars.
According to local accounts, during the event, Kharousheh’s body was dumped to the ground.
Nasr Abu Jaish, the Nablus-based coordinator of the coordination committee for the united Palestinian factions, announced his resignation in protest to the PA’s activities on Facebook.
In a statement, Hamas referred to the attack on the procession as a “crime” and a “severe violation of all national and religious norms,” and it demanded that “those responsible” be punished.
The statement continued, “The scene of martyr Kharousheh’s body falling in Nablus brings back the memory of the martyr Shireen Abu Akleh’s fall at the hands of the occupation forces during her funeral in Jerusalem,” referring to an assault by Israeli forces on the funeral of the dead Al Jazeera journalist last May.
The left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also criticized the assault, saying it constituted “thuggery that it only practiced by those who have turned their backs’ on our peoples’ resistance,” and urged on the PA to “respect our peoples’ rights and their sacrifices”.
In response to the Jenin raid, there was a nationwide strike that day in the occupied West Bank, which coincided with the occurrence.
Companies closed their doors in a number of cities, including Ramallah, Nablus, and Jenin.
Schools and other government-run organizations declared their support for the strike, but they already had closure plans because International Women’s Day is observed on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank.
Issam Bakr, a representative of the joint Palestinian factions coordination committee, said in a statement on Tuesday night that the strike “comes as a denunciation of the massacre committed by the occupation today in Jenin and its camp, which claimed the lives of six martyrs, in addition to dozens of injuries.” Bakr also added that the strike would include demonstrations against Israeli forces.
In a massive onslaught on the Jenin refugee camp in the northern part of the occupied West Bank on Tuesday afternoon, the Israeli army used live bullets, killing six Palestinians and wounded 26 others, including three who are still in critical condition.
s stated ” business stores are In the Palestinian street, there is a feeling of overload and rage.
Thousands of Palestinians protested on Tuesday night all throughout the occupied West Bank.
The Lions’ Den armed organization in Nablus has called for demonstrations to demonstrate the rage of the Palestinian street, according to Abu Shammala.
Mohammad Wael Ghazzawi, 26; Tareq Natour, 27; Ziad Zirini, 29; Mutasem Sabbagh, 22; and Mohammad Khlouf, 22 were five of the dead males who lived in the Jenin refugee camp.
The other victim, Kharousheh, was a commander in the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement located in Gaza.
He and other fighters were residing in a house in the Jenin refugee camp when Israeli soldiers assaulted the camp on Tuesday, barricaded them inside, and then attacked the house with rockets, killing them all.
The Israeli attack on Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday was the most recent and has also claimed the lives of civilians.
Ten Palestinians, including an elderly woman, were slain in an Israeli operation in Jenin at the end of January. Later, on February 6, five people were slain in a raid in Jericho, and on February 22, eleven more people were killed in a raid in Nablus.
At least 68 Palestinians have been slain by Israeli troops this year, while five have been killed by settlers.
Palestinian attacks have also claimed the lives of thirteen Israelis and one Ukrainian.
Source : Al Jazeera
