On Thursday, businesses, schools, and facilities across the West Bank city of Jenin conducted a general strike. The strike was called in mourning for three Palestinians who died during armed clashes as Israeli forces carried out a dawn raid in the Jenin refugee camp.
Tarek al-Damj and Sedki Zakarneh, who were reportedly affiliated with the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, as well as the 46-year-old Atta Shalabi were killed in heavy gunfire. Though the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has claimed that all three individuals were armed, allegedly only one of them was found with a gun.
Israel has ramped up its repression of Palestinians in the West Bank, with these latest killings illustrating a violent trend. Occupation forces that raided the city and the refugee camp provoked confrontations with local Palestinian residents and killed three men at point-blank range, following their abhorrent "shoot-to-kill policy."
Over 2.5K Palestinian suspects have been detained so far during Israeli counterterrorism raids, including three in this latest Jenin raid. While the deaths are tragic, it's senseless to claim that the IDF intentionally causes conflicts and kills local residents — especially when those killed are likely to be involved with a militant group that openly admitted its fighters had engaged in clashes.