“This crime underscores the need for unity among all strata of the Palestinian nation and its forces to confront the Zionist enemy, which shows no mercy to men, women and the elderly,” it said in a statement on Saturday evening.
“It obliges all Palestinians to engage with occupiers by any means, especially in the checkpoints of death, which have mushroomed across the West Bank and al-Quds,” the statement added.
The movement said, “The occupying Zionist forces continue to commit the most heinous crimes against our people in the West Bank and the occupied al-Quds, ignore the rights of Palestinian people, and execute young people, women, children and the elderly in cold blood.”
Silence on the recent crime is “a disgrace to institutions, countries and organizations that claim to be advocates of human rights, freedom and justice. This silence is a cover-up for terrorism and emboldens the occupying regime to kill Palestinians,” it said.
“The blood of these martyrs will fan the flames of tensions, and will make us more determined to continue the path of resistance until our lands are fully liberated,” the statement said.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said the new bloodshed is part of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's desperate efforts to stay in office.
“Netanyahu and his extremist political, military and security team will, until the last moment in office, intensify their brutal aggression against Palestinian people, their lands, assets and sacred sites,” the ministry said in a statement.
Netanyahu, it said, seeks to thwart his political opponents' efforts to form an alternative regime by escalating aggression in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem al-Quds.
“This bloody scene that Netanyahu is orchestrating is costing the lives, properties and sanctities of our people and their children,” the ministry said.
Earlier Saturday, Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian woman over an alleged stabbing attempt at Qalandia checkpoint in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli police alleged that the 27-year-old woman, identified as Ibtesam Khaled Kaabneh, had kept walking towards guards at the crossing, despite repeated warnings to stop.
It further claimed that the woman, a resident of Aqabat Jabr refugee camp near the West Bank town of Ariha (Jericho), had approached them with a knife. An Israeli soldier then opened fire at her.
Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported that Kaabneh was left bleeding helplessly on the ground for a few minutes before she was pronounced dead.
Many Palestinians have sustained injuries or lost their lives in similar incidents due to allegations that they attempted stabbing or car-ramming attacks.
Israeli troops have on numerous occasions been caught on camera brutally killing Palestinians, with the videos going viral online and sparking international condemnation.
The Tel Aviv regime has been criticized for its extensive use of lethal force against and extrajudicial killing of Palestinians who do not pose an immediate threat to the occupation forces or to the Israeli settlers.
The development came after a 15-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli army gunfire near the town of Beita, south of Nablus.
On Thursday, two officers in the Palestinian Authority’s security service were shot dead in an exchange of fire with Israeli forces in the northern West Bank. A third Palestinian was also killed in the firefight.
On Saturday, former leader of Britain’s Labour Party and member of parliament for Islington North, Jeremy Corbin, took part in a demonstration outside Downing Street in London to demand an end to the “British complicity in Israel's war crimes.”
Corbin called on the UK government to cease arms sales to Israel, saying that British weapons are “killing children abroad.”
At today’s Justice For Palestine demonstration in London, I also called for a halt to arms sales. UK-made weapons are killing civilians - including children - in conflicts abroad. This must stop.
pic.twitter.com/Sf2tEGjtkX
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn)
June 12, 2021
Demonstrators were seen waving Palestinian flags and holding banners that read “Free Palestine” during the “Justice for Palestine” rally organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).
Another sign read, “Peace to a land that was created for peace but never saw a peaceful day.”
The participants urged the British government to impose sanctions on Israel.
Earlier this week, pro-Palestinian activists took over an aerospace factory in the northwestern British town of Runcorn, which reportedly supplies parts for drones produced by Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems.
The protesters scaled the roof of the APPH facility, which is owned by Canadian firm Heroux-Devtek, sprayed red paint on the walls of the premises and waved red flares.
Palestine Action, which describes itself as a direct-action network of groups and individuals, said the Runcorn facility manufactures military technology and landing gear for Elbit's long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which were used in the recent Israeli onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip.
At least 260 Palestinians, including 66 children, were killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in 11 days of the conflict that began on May 10. Israel’s airstrikes also brought widespread devastation to the already impoverished territory.
The Gaza-based resistance movements responded by launching over 4,000 rockets into the occupied territories, some reaching as far as Tel Aviv and even Haifa and Nazareth to the north.
