JENIN (AFP) – Over two Palestinians martyred by Israeli troops on Thursday in the flash point West Bank city of Jenin, the Palestinian health ministry said, with the army saying they responded after being fired upon.
The ministry said Jawad Farid Bawaqna was killed by a bullet to the chest, while Adham Mohammed Bassem Jabareen, 28, was hit in the upper abdomen by Israeli fire.
The Israeli army said that during “counterterrorism activity in the Jenin (refugee) camp, armed Palestinian gunmen fired heavily at the security forces, who responded with live fire”.
It added that “hits were identified”.
The army said that “explosive devices were also hurled at the forces”, and that troops arrested a “wanted individual suspected of involvement in terrorist activity”, seizing an M16 assault rifle as well as “military equipment, explosive materials and ammunition”.
A soldier was “lightly injured during the operation and evacuated to a hospital for further medical treatment,” it added.
The Islamic Jihad militant group said Jabareen was a member.
Bawaqna was a sports teacher and youth leader in Jenin refugee camp, the province’s deputy governor said.
