TULKAREM, (PIC)
A Palestinian resistance fighter was martyred on Saturday during armed clashes with the Israeli occupation forces (IOF), which encircled a building in the West Bank City of Tulkarem.
According to the Palestinian health ministry, 29-year-old Islam Awda was killed following an IOF attack on a house in as-Salam neighborhood in the east of Tulkarem City.
Eyewitnesses said that Israeli forces embarked at dawn on encircling an apartment building in as-Salam neighborhood, which is located between Dinnaba suburb and Nur Shams refugee camp, while opening fire intensively at it and attacking it with several projectiles.
They affirmed that an apartment went on fire after the IOF fired over 20 Energa projectiles at it at the pretext that a wanted young man was inside it.
Later, an Israeli bulldozer started to demolish parts of the bombed apartment before the IOF withdrew from the area, amid clashes with local youths.
Al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas said that Islam Awda was one of its leaders in Tulkarem refugee camp, adding that he was martyred following hours of clashes with Israeli forces in as-Salam neighborhood.
Al-Qassam Brigades also said that a group of its fighters detonated an explosive device at IOF vehicles at the entrance of Tulkarem camp and attacked them with explosives and a hail of bullets in as-Salam neighborhood.
A young man also suffered bullet injuries in his legs during skirmishes between local youths and Israeli soldiers in the same neighborhood.
As they were leaving the neighborhood, the IOF reportedly blew up a civilian car in Tulkarem’s Nablus street.
