'Israel' commits massacre in Tulkarm, kills 18 after striking a cafe
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An Israeli airstrike on a popular cafe in Tulkarm refugee camp on Thursday evening has claimed the lives of at least 18 Palestinians, with several others injured.
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Smoke rises due to an Israeli airstrike on a popular cafe in the Tulkarm refugee camp. (X)
Eighteen Palestinians were martyred and several others were injured in an Israeli airstrike on Thursday evening that targeted a popular cafe in the Tulkarm refugee camp, located in the northern occupied West Bank.
Israeli warplanes launched at least one missile at the cafe in the al-Hamam neighborhood while several Palestinians, mainly women and children, were present. The attack resulted in the killing of at least 18 people and left others with varying degrees of injury, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Breaking | Casualties among Palestinians have been reported following an Israeli occupation bombardment in Tulkarm refugee camp, occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/Gfq9DsV1Tq
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 3, 2024
Civil defense and ambulance teams quickly responded to the scene, transferring the victims to the Martyr Thabit Thabit Government Hospital in Tulkarm city.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that its teams transported the bodies of five martyrs and one injured person to the hospital.
So far, Palestinian sources have confirmed the names of 13 martyrs, including:
- Martyr Ghaith Badi' Mohammad Radwan
- Martyr Zahi Yasser Abdul Razeq Oufi
- Martyr Ayman Khaled Fawzi Tanji
- Martyr Assem Naaman Mohammad Qouzah
- Martyr Bassel Mahmoud Thaher Nafeh
- Martyr Anwar Mohammad Mousa Mseismeh
- Martyr Ahmad Jamal Said Obeid
- Martyr Sujja Nasser Mahmoud Khrayoush
- Martyr Omar Nemer Mohammad Fayyat
- Martyr Mohammad Salah Ahmad Abu Zahra
- Martyr Mohammad Mamoun Mohammad Aanbas
- Martyr Rawan Jawad Mousa Ghanem
- Martyr Mohammad Tahsin Khalil
The list includes women and two children who were also reportedly martyred.
Airstrikes, conventional military operation illegal in West Bank
It is worth noting that as an occupying force, the Israeli regime has no right to use conventional military methods in the West Bank.
According to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OCHA), the Israeli regime's use of military force in the occupied territory is being deployed in a manner that "violates international law."
The office further stated that what is occurring in the West Bank does "not constitute an armed conflict," and that the "use of force in the West Bank must comply with human rights norms and standards applicable to law enforcement."
It explained that the use of airstrikes and other military weapons and tactics "violates these standards and is resulting in extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings and destruction of Palestinian homes and infrastructure."
Palestinian Resistance factions condemn unprecedented strike on Tulkarm
Meanwhile, Palestinian Resistance factions, including Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the al-Mujahideen Movement, condemned the Israeli strike on Tulkarm, describing it as a "gruesome massacre."
Hamas said that the strike on a cafe in Tulkarm which killed and injured women and children is a "dangerous [Israeli] escalation." The movement said that the action comes in line with the Israeli regime's war on the Palestinian people in the West Bank.
Al-Mujahideen movement echoed Hamas' remarks, saying that such attacks constitute am open-ended war on the Palestinian people and the Lebanese people, who are also subjected to a wide-scale Israeli aggression.
On the other hand, the PFLP condemned the continued security coordination that the Palestinian Authority partakes in with the Israeli regime.
It said that such actions constitute a crime against the Palestinian people and facilitate the genocidal war that targets them.
The front called for a united Palestinian front against the Israeli regime's war on Palestine.
