During a military operation that took place in the city of Jenin, located in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers were responsible for the death of a Palestinian teenager who was just 16 years old.
She was named Jana Majdi Zakarneh by the Palestinian Health Ministry, which announced her death just after midnight on Monday (22:00 GMT).
According to reports from the local media, Zakarneh was fatally shot when she was standing on the rooftop of her house. According to the ministry, she had a gunshot wound to the head.
According to the authorities, during the operation, Israeli bullets injured at least two other Palestinians who were there.
On Sunday night, at about 10 o'clock (1900 GMT), Israeli special forces conducted a raid on Jenin and its refugee camp, during which they made arrests. The Israeli army found itself in confrontations with Palestinian teenagers as well as skirmishes with Palestinian fighters on many occasions.
The Israeli military issued a statement earlier stating that it was "aware of the claim of a Palestinian female's death" and that it was investigating the incident. The statement also said that it was looking into the case.
Later, it was reported by the Associated Press that the Israeli military had admitted that its troops had fatally shot a teenage Palestinian girl during an operation in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military stated that the girl was hit unintentionally by a fire that was aimed at gunmen in the area.
An early investigation by the Israeli military resulted in the conclusion that the girl "was struck by inadvertent fire fired at armed militants" on a neighboring rooftop. This conclusion was made public in a statement. According to what was written, it seems that the girl who was slain had been on the roof of one of the homes that were close to the gunman.
The statement went on to say that the military opened fire when local militants started firing at the soldiers and throwing firebombs at them.
The army issued a statement saying that its commanders "regret any injury to uninvolved people," but the statement also said that the army will continue with its operations despite this.
A local leader in Jenin named Atta Abu Rmeileh called for a nationwide strike to be held in the city on Monday as a sign of grief for the Zakarneh. In the latter part of the day, a funeral procession will be organized in her honor.
This year, Israel has already taken the lives of more than 50 Palestinian youngsters under the age of 18 in the occupied areas of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Zakarneh is one of the victims. In addition, she is one of the more than 215 Palestinians who have been slain in total in the year 2022, including 17 women.
According to the United Nations, 2022 was the deadliest year for Palestinians living in the West Bank since 2006, when records began being kept.
Since the beginning of last year, tensions on the ground have been steadily rising. A surge in the number of armed assaults carried out by Palestinians, as well as an increase in the number of attacks carried out by settlers against Palestinians, occur concurrently with the near-daily raids and murders carried out by the Israeli military in Palestinian towns and villages.
The cities of Jenin and Nablus, located in the northern portion of the West Bank, have been the primary targets of the raids because of the increasing level of violent Palestinian resistance there.
During operations that took place on Thursday in Jenin and Ramallah, Israeli soldiers took the lives of four Palestinians, the youngest of whom was Diaa Rimawi, who was just 15 years old.
