Thousands of Palestinians mourn two youths killed by Israeli forces in Jenin

Thousands of Palestinians took part on Thursday in the funerals of two youths killed by Israeli forces in the Jenin refugee camp.

The victims, 23-year-old Yazid Al-Saadi from Jenin city and 17-year-old Sanad Abu Atiyah, were killed in an Israeli raid on the refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Thursday morning. Fourteen others were wounded in the raid.

#Photos| Farewell and funeral of two martyrs, Sanad Abu Attia and Yazid Al-Saadi, who were martyred in clashes with occupation forces after storming the Jenin refugee camp, this morning.#فلسطين 𓂆 🇵🇸🗝️#SahabatPalestina_ID pic.twitter.com/gbstTtU2OF

— ғᴏʀᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴘᴀʟᴇsᴛɪɴᴇ (@Forever__Pal06) March 31, 2022

“Israeli forces entered the camp in the morning in large numbers and clashed with the youth who threw stones at them”, Atta Abu Rmeileh, secretary for the Palestinian faction Fatah at the camp, told The New Arab.

“Shortly after the raid began, armed fighters in the camp clashed with Israeli troops, who opened fire indiscriminately”, he added.

اشتباك في #جنين ومحاصرة أحد المنازل pic.twitter.com/bdFjFAU7qG

— إسلام حبيب #غزة (@ISLAMHABIB6) March 31, 2022

During the raid, Israeli forces fired such large volumes of tear gas that the chemicals seeped into the government-run hospital beside the refugee camp.

“Tear gas entered through the windows and reached the dialysis section and the baby incubator section as well”, Dr. Wesam Abu Baker, director of the hospital, told The New Arab.

“There were some cases of breathing difficulties among our staff, who also noted that babies' oxygen levels had decreased,” Abu Baker noted.

“We immediately moved the incubators to another section, and it all ended without major harm, thankfully,” he added.

The infants at Jenin Government Hospital are being transferred to other departments since they got suffocated as the Israeli forces have bombarded the hospital with tear gas.@Timesofgaza pic.twitter.com/KMPlXE4KZK

— Muhammad Smiry (@MuhammadSmiry) March 31, 2022

Israeli media said that the two Palestinians killed in Jenin were armed militants. Abu Rmeileh denied the reports.

“The majority of those who were wounded, except one, didn’t even have any known precedents of militancy and had never had problems with the occupation”, said Abu Rmeileh. “Most of them are youngsters throwing stones, like Sanad Atiyah who was killed”.

The Ministry of Health 🇵🇸 : Sanad Abu Al-Saber (17 years), died of a critical wound by the Israeli occupation forces, during his storming of Jenin.

Sad scene when his mother bid farewell to him pic.twitter.com/NRahqSpn7H

— ✌️🇵🇸✌️ Mohammed Najjar (@hamada_pal2020) March 31, 2022

“Sanad was only a teenager, he didn’t have any political affiliation”, Shatha Hanaysheh, a young journalist from Jenin who knew Abu Atiyah, told The New Arab.

“He was a simple, always-smiling boy who had dropped out of school to help his family by working in a bakery, and when he wasn’t working he spent his time with his friends in the streets of the camp”, she said. “His only political activity was when he spontaneously joined marches that happened in the camp for whatever reason”.

Israeli forces shot and killed 16-year-old Sanad Mohammad Khalil Abu Atiya in the chest with live ammunition earlier today outside Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank. DCIP field researchers are investigating his killing and will have a full report ready soon. pic.twitter.com/PyTu1dsqqf

— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) March 31, 2022

Abu Atiyah’s father told Palestinian media that his son “was beside me at home when clashes began".

"I told him not to go out and he didn’t, but when I moved to another room for a few minutes, he left.”

A video circulated on social media showing a teenager throwing stones at an Israeli military jeep. Sources confirmed that it was Sanad Abu Atiyah.

A video of the martyr Sanad Abu Aita moments before he was shot by the occupation in Jenin. #جنين#جنين_تقاوم https://t.co/r0Na3dZKG3

— 🇲🇾 𓂆 تِيفَا (@tifa_myname) March 31, 2022

Yazid Saadi, the second Palestinian killed, was the owner of a street stall in Jenin city.

“He was a close friend of Nour Jarrar, who was killed by Israeli forces last year,” said Hanaysheh.

Nour Jarrar was killed in an armed confrontation with Israeli forces raiding the Jenin refugee camp in August 2021. The Al-Quds Brigades - the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) - mourned his death as the loss of a comrade.

The second in less than hour!

The Palestinian man, Yazid Al-Saadi, 23, succumbed to the injuries that he sustained by Israeli live bullets in the chest and abdomen during a military raid into Jenin camp, occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/bwsSO0BZDt

— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) March 31, 2022

The 'Jenin Brigade', which forms part of the Al-Quds Brigades, said in a statement that the Israeli raid had tried but failed to capture Palestinian fighters. The brigade said that two of its fighters and one Israeli soldier were wounded in the raid.

Israel's army said one of its soldiers was wounded in the clashes, according to Israeli media.

The Israeli army also said that the raid involved hundreds of soldiers, as part of a larger Israeli arrest campaign.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned the Israeli raid and the two killings, calling them “a new episode of Israeli crimes against our people”.

Israel was “fully responsible for the consequences of its violations”, he said.

The raid came two days after a Palestinian killed five Israelis in the Bnei Brak suburb of Tel Aviv. The attacker, from the village of Yaabad, west of Jenin, was shot dead at the scene by Israeli police.

The Jenin area has been the frequent target of Israeli raids and military operations in recent months.