Hundreds of Palestinians in Jenin mourn 19-year-old killed by Israel as assault on West Bank continues

Hundreds of Palestinians took part on Monday in the funeral of a Palestinian teenager killed in the early morning in Qabatiya, west of Jenin city, by raiding Israeli forces.

The victim was 19-year-old Taher Zakarneh, a resident of Qabatiya, whom the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) mourned as one of its members in a statement.

"Israeli forces raided Qabatiya around 5:00 am and arrested three residents," Mohammad Habash, the local Fatah secretary in Qabatiya, told The New Arab.

"Young men confronted the raiding Israeli forces with stones, while some gunmen opened fire at them," Habash added. "Taher Zakarneh was among other young men beside the street when Israeli soldiers opened fire towards them, and he was shot in the head."

Palestinian youth Taher Zakarneh was shot dead by Israeli occupation gunfire during a military raid into Qabatiya, near Jenin. pic.twitter.com/Ub43A5Fbe8

— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) September 5, 2022

"Israeli forces have been increasing their raids not only on Qabatiya but on all Jenin," Habash said. "It is an attempt to deter and submit young Palestinians, but this is an angry generation that has chosen to resist", he pointed out.

"Ever since he began to understand the situation in the country, he only wanted to confront Israeli forces although we all advised him to focus on his future," Zakarneh's father said to Palestinian journalists outside the Jenin hospital before the funeral. "Taher didn't have many plans for the future."

School students took part in the funeral of Palestinian youth Taher Zakarneh, who was murdered by Israeli forces in Jenin this morning. pic.twitter.com/bRehYwrcKQ

— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) September 5, 2022

"We all told him to take care of himself and not to risk his life, but he insisted," Zakarneh's father added. "He was very impacted by the arrests and killings of his peers in Jenin and was particularly affected by the death of his close friend and classmate, Mahmoud Sanajel." 

Mahmoud Sanajel was killed in 2020 by the Israeli police in Jerusalem's old city after he shot at Israeli officers, injuring one.

Filled with grief, Palestinians in Qabatiya bid farewell to slain Taher Zakarneh who was killed by the lsraeli occupation forces this morning. pic.twitter.com/7hgWew1qOK

— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) September 5, 2022

The killing of Zakarneh arrived a few hours after four Israeli soldiers were wounded, late on Sunday, in a shooting attack near the village of Nabi Saleh west of Ramallah.

According to Israeli media reports quoting Israeli army sources, the attack was carried out with a hunting rifle.

Earlier on Sunday, six Israeli soldiers were wounded, one in critical condition, in a shooting attack on a soldiers' bus in the Jordan Valley. Two Palestinians were arrested in the following hours.

Violence in the occupied West Bank is rising in recent weeks after Israeli forces ramped-up raids into West Bank towns and cities, often exchanging fire with Palestinian gunmen.

Since the beginning of 2022, Israeli forces have killed 31 Palestinians in Jenin and more than 140 in all of the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip.