The Palestinian Ministry of Health denounced Thursday the shooting death of a Palestinian woman while she was harvesting olives in the village of Faqoua, assuring that she had been killed by an Israeli, a new episode of violence in the occupied West Bank.
Hanane Abdelrahmane Abousalama was ‘killed by occupation bullets’, the ministry said.
The Israeli army, contacted by AFP, indicated that it was ‘verifying’ the events which took place near Jenin, in the north-east of the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
According to witnesses, the victim was killed while he was with his family near a separation wall being built by Israeli authorities.
‘An Israeli wearing a military uniform arrived in a white car and fired around ten bullets towards the Abousalama family, who were harvesting olives on their land,’ Mounir Barakat, a member of the village council, told AFP. from Faqoua.
According to him, ‘the council issued an invitation a few days ago to residents to pick olives from their agricultural lands, after coordination with the relevant authorities.’
Olive groves sources of tension
Hanane Abdelrahmane Abousalama was buried Thursday in Faqoua. His son, Firas Salama, told AFP that Israeli authorities “previously gave permission” to the family to go immediately “as long as we stayed 100 meters from the wall for security reasons.”
‘We were even further away when they shot at us and we took our things to leave,’ he added.
According to him, his mother was killed while ‘she was near the tractor at the end of the field’.
Olive groves are essential to the economy and culture of the West Bank but for decades they have been sources of tension between Palestinian farmers and Israeli settlers, particularly over access to agricultural land.
The most dangerous picking
Violence has increased in the West Bank since the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, in power in Gaza, launched its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed more than 738 Palestinians in the West Bank since then, according to the Ramallah-based Health Ministry earlier this month.
Israeli officials say at least 24 Israelis, civilians or members of the security forces, were killed in attacks by Palestinian militants or during Israeli military operations during the same period in the West Bank.
UN-mandated experts said Wednesday that Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank are experiencing ‘the most dangerous olive picking season ever’ this year due to violence perpetrated by settlers and Israeli forces.
/ATS
