Palestinian dies a month after being shot during Israeli raid in West Bank

Ongoing violence in West Bank has surged to levels unseen in nearly two decades

Ezzedin Kanan, 20, from Jaba near Jenin, was shot in the head on July 3 during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank. Photo: WAFA

A Palestinian died of wounds a month after being shot during an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Saturday.

Ezzedin Kanan, 20, from the town of Jaba near Jenin, was shot in the head on July 3 during one of the most violent Israeli military operations in the West Bank since an armed Palestinian uprising against Israel’s open-ended occupation ended two decades ago, Wafa said.

His death brings the total killed in the raid to 14. It lasted two days and included air strikes, hundreds of ground troops and bulldozers that were used to tear up roads and flatten buildings.

The army claimed to have inflicted heavy damage on militant groups in the Jenin refugee camp and that it had confiscated thousands of weapons, bomb-making materials and caches of money during the raid.

The violence in the West Bank has reached levels unseen in nearly two decades, with more than 170 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the start of 2023, according to AP.

Since early 2022, Israel has been carrying out near-daily raids in the West Bank in response to a series of deadly Palestinian attacks. It has said the raids are necessary to defeat Palestinian militants.

UN Mideast envoy Tor Wennesland told the Security Council on Tuesday that the rise in violence is being fuelled by deepening despair about the future, with the Palestinians seeking an independent state.

“The lack of progress towards a political horizon that addressed the core issues driving the conflict has left a dangerous and volatile vacuum, filled by extremists on all sides,” he said.