Israeli air attack on West Bank coffee shop kills at least 20 Palestinians
Occupied West Bank (Quds News Network)- Israeli forces killed at least 20 Palestinians on Thursday after bombing a coffee shop in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm using fighter jets, in the first such attack since the Second Intifada.
At least one missile hit a busy cafe in the al-Hamam neighborhood in the crowded Tulkarm refugee camp late at night as citizens gathered there, local sources reported.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said 18 Palestinians were killed in the attack in an initial estimate.
Sham Khrewesh, a 3-year-old Palestinian girl, has been identified as one of the victims of the deadly Israeli massacre last night in the Tulkarm refugee camp. pic.twitter.com/EykOyCzXQc
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 4, 2024
Video from the site circulated on social media showed what appeared to be a corpse suspended in the air and rubble spewed across the street with cries in the background. Fires had also broken out.
The aftermath of the deadly Israeli massacre last night in the Tulkarm refugee camp, where 20 Palestinians, the majority of whom are civilians, including children, were killed. pic.twitter.com/e0riI4ZqUb
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 4, 2024
A source within the Palestinian security services told AFP this was the deadliest Israeli single attack in the occupied West Bank since 2000.
Civil defense teams are searching for bodies following the Israeli occupation massacre in the Tulkarm refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/zxRH3SqlJC
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 4, 2024
A camp official, Faisal Salama, told the AFP that the strike had been carried out with an F-16 fighter.
The Israeli army confirmed the strike and said it was a joint operation carried out by the Shin Bet internal security service and the air force, according to a brief statement by the military.
Among those killed was Zahi al-Oufi, who Israel claimed was the leader of Hamas’ network in Tulkarm.
National and Islamic committees across the West Bank called for a general strike on Friday in protest against the attack.
Israeli military raids and attacks have surged across the occupied West Bank since Israel launched its war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023.
Between October 7 of last year and the end of September, 695 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, according to a tally from the United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA).
Major Israeli operations in the West Bank are sometimes occurring “at a scale not witnessed in the last two decades”, United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said last month.
