9 Palestinians killed in Israeli drone strikes in occupied West Bank

Ramallah: Nine Palestinians were killed on Saturday in Israeli drones strikes near Tulkarem in the north of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said. A drone struck a vehicle on the Bala'a-Ktaba road east of Tulkarem, killing four occupants and setting it alight, it said, adding that soldiers cordoned off the scene of the attack and prevented ambulances from reaching the dead bodies. Hours earlier, five Palestinians were killed when two rockets fired by an Israeli drone struck their car near the towns of Zeita and Attil, north of Tulkarem. The Thabet Thabet Government Hospital in Tulkarem said it received five charred bodies from the attack, and identified one as 25-year-old Haitham Blidi from Tulkarem refugee camp, the scene of repeated deadly army raids in the past months. The Palestinian National Action factions mourned the victims and declared a general strike in Tulkarem, condemned the assassinations and held the occupation authority and the international community responsibl e for the Israeli crimes. Elsewhere, Israeli troops staged raids across the West Bank and East Jerusalem and arrested 30 Palestinians, including 2 journalists, children and ex-prisoners, the Palestinian Prsiners Club said in a statement. It said the raids took place in the cities of Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron and Tubas, which were accompanied with assaults and threats against detainees and their families and vandalism of homes and property. The detentions brought to over 9,920 the number of arrests that have markedly increased since October 6, the NGO said, pointing to rising incidents of deliberately targeting civilians and collective punishment. Source: Jordan News Agency