Girl ‘killed inside home’ as Israeli West Bank operation continues

A funeral has been held for a 16-year-old Palestinian girl reportedly killed by Israeli forces in the north of the occupied West Bank on the seventh day of a wide-scale Israeli operation.

Lujain Musleh’s father said she was shot in the head as she looked out of a window of her home in Kafr Dan, just outside Jenin, after soldiers surrounded a neighbouring house on Tuesday.

The Israeli military said armed fighters fired at the soldiers and that they “fired back at a suspect who observed” them.

The Palestinian health ministry says 30 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched what it called an operation to dismantle “terrorist cells”.

Most of the dead have been claimed by armed groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as members, but several children are also among them, according to the ministry.

The Israeli military has said that one Israeli soldier has been killed.

There has been a spike in violence in the West Bank since Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on 7 October and the ensuing war in Gaza.

Defence for Children Palestine (DCIP), a rights group, said Israeli soldiers entered Kafr Dan around 11:30 (09:30 BST) on Tuesday, prompting clashes with armed Palestinians.

“Israeli soldiers surrounded and besieged the home of a wanted Palestinian man, firing live ammunition and shells at the house,” it said.

“Around 14:10, 16-year-old Loujain was inside her family’s home … when an Israeli sniper shot her in the head through a window.”

During a funeral procession for Loujain on Wednesday, her father, Osama, told reporters: “She didn’t go to the roof, she didn’t hurl a stone, and she wasn’t carrying a weapon.”

“The only thing she did is look from the window and the soldier saw her and shot her.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said soldiers surrounded two civilian structures in Kafr Dan where they believed armed fighters were sheltering, and that they “called for civilians to evacuate from both structures prior to the exchange of fire that took place”.

“During the encircling of the structures, the terrorists opened fire at IDF soldiers in the area, and in response the soldiers fired back at a suspect who observed the forces in the area, in order to remove a threat,” it added.

“The IDF is aware of the report regarding a 16-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed during the exchange of fire. The details of the incident are under review.”

Pictures from the funeral showed mourners carrying a body wrapped in a Hamas flag. The bodies of those killed by Israel are often wrapped in the flags of movements supported by friends or family members – even when the deceased are not supporters themselves.

DCIP also cited documentation it had collected which said a 14-year-old boy, Mohammed Kanaan, was shot dead by an Israeli sniper on Tuesday morning at an entrance to the Tulkarm refugee camp, in Tulkarm city. The IDF said it was looking into that report.

When asked by the BBC on Tuesday to comment on the reports of civilian deaths, the IDF said its forces operated in strict accordance with international law.

“The IDF has never, and will never, deliberately target civilians,” it added. “Given the ongoing exchanges of fire, remaining in an active combat zone has inherent risks. The IDF will continue to counter threats while persisting to mitigate harm to civilians.”

The IDF said its soldiers had killed two armed fighters during an exchange of fire in Tulkarm on Tuesday, and also located what an explosive device in a baby stroller.

On Monday evening, it announced that 14 “terrorists” had been killed in Jenin since the start of the operation and that 25 suspects had been detained.

“Every terrorist must be eliminated, and if they surrender, they must be arrested. There is no other option, use all the forces, everyone who is needed, with full strength,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told IDF officers on Wednesday.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa said on Tuesday that the losses caused by the raids, especially of infrastructure, might be the most extensive in two decades.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees expressed particular concern about Jenin, saying it had been “ravaged by violence and destruction”.

Jenin’s streets have been so damaged that cars cannot pass some roads. Israeli bulldozers have destroyed many shops in the city centre, although those on the periphery were still open.

The local municipality said the IDF had bulldozed more than 70% of streets, cut off water to 80% of the city, and damaged 20km (12 miles) of water, sewage, communications and electricity networks.

The IDF said: “The terrorists in [the West Bank] exploit the civilian population and use them as human shields for murderous purposes, establishing terrorist infrastructures and planting explosives underneath traffic routes to harm the IDF troops in their attempts to thwart threats to the lives of Israeli citizens.”

It also said it would work quickly to enable local authorities to repair damaged infrastructure and ensure the functionality of essential services.

Israeli forces have also surrounded Jenin’s government hospital throughout the operation.

Hospital director Dr Wisam Baker told the BBC on Monday that no-one could come in and out, including doctors like him travelling home, except in ambulances.

Troops searched the vehicles and checked the IDs of those inside, he added.

Ambulance drivers are “afraid” to bring wounded to the hospital or are delayed from entering because of searches, he said, adding the delay could put lives at risk.

The hospital has been running on a generator, and 10 tanks of water are brought in each day, Dr Baker said. Ambulances have also been delivering food.

Asked about the presence of troops outside the hospital, the IDF alleged that armed groups were exploiting medical and other facilities that were protected under international law.

“The hospitals continue to operate as usual. In appropriate cases, inspections are conducted on those arriving at the hospital, provided that this does not prevent their treatment or endanger their health,” it said.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams were “tirelessly providing humanitarian and emergency services to the besieged citizens in the Jenin camp, despite continuous obstructions by Israeli occupation forces, who are hindering [their] work.”

On Monday, it said many Jenin residents were in urgent need of medicine, baby formula or food supplies, and that two paramedics and a volunteer doctor had been injured while on duty.