Nablus / PNN/

 Israeli occupation soldiers shot and killed three Palestinians during a large-scale assault on Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Nablus early this morning and injured six others, one of them seriously, according to the Ministry of Health, and blew up a house.

It said Fathi Jihad Rizq, 30, Abdullah Yousef Abu Hamdan, 24, and Mohammad Bilal Zeitoun, 32, were killed during the assault.

Witnesses said a large force raided the camp in the early hours and deployed snipers on rooftops.

Clashes broke out between armed men and the soldiers which led to the killing of the three and the injury of six others, one no of them seriously.

The soldiers also broke into dozens of homes in the camp, searched and ransacked them, and blew up one house for the Abu Shalal family injuring a young boy and girl from shrapnel and causing damage to nearby homes.

The Israeli army has killed or caused the death of 156 Palestinians since the start of the year, among them 26 minors, and including 36 in the Gaza Strip.

Fatah mourns the three Palestinians killed in Balata refugee camp, says this will not stop the struggle

Palestinian National Liberation Movement, Fatah, today mourned the three Palestinian men killed this morning by Israeli forces in Balata refugee camp in Nablus, describing them as “its three martyrs”, and stressing that this will not deter the Palestinian people from continuing their national struggle until they win their legitimate rights and establish their independent sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital.

“This crime reflects the bloody approach of the extremist occupation government, which practices the most aggressive policies of terrorism and violence against our people,” said Fatah in a statement mourning Mohammad Zaytoun, Fathi Rizk and Abdullah Abu Hamdan, while calling on the international community to intervene immediately to stop the Israeli killings, stressing that the international silence gives the occupation authority the pretext to continue its crimes against the Palestinian people.

Presidential spokesman describes Israeli raid and killing in Nablus ‘a real massacre’

The Israeli occupation army assault on Balata refugee camp in Nablus at dawn today, which resulted in the killing of three Palestinians and the wounding of six others, is a real massacre and a continuation of the all-out war Israel is waging against the Palestinian people, today said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the official spokesman for the Palestinian presidency

“The continuous aggression against the city of Nablus, its villages and camps by the occupation forces and extremist settlers is a major war crime and collective punishment that must be put to an end immediately,” he said, holding the Israeli occupation government fully responsible for this continuous dangerous escalation that targets the people, their lands and their sanctities.

He pointed out that the silence of the US administration on these crimes encouraged Israel to persist in its aggression, calling on it to intervene immediately to put a stop “to the Israeli madness that will drag the region towards an explosion.”

The Israeli army killed 39 Palestinians in Nablus alone since the start of the year, and 156 in all the occupied territories, including 36 in the Gaza Strip.

PLO accuses Israel of declaring an open war against the Palestinians with its daily killings

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) today accused Israel of declaring an open war against the Palestinians with the killing this morning of three young men during an army assault into the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

PLO Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh said in a tweet that the Israeli occupation government sent its army to commit another of its daily crimes against the Palestinian people, the last of which was the killing and destruction this morning in Balata refugee camp in Nablus.

“The occupation government declares an open war with the Palestinians by killing, destroying houses, settlements and destroying sanctities, which requires all Palestinians to unite and develop policies to confront this arrogance and this dangerous escalation,” said al-Sheikh.

“The occupation government announces that the price of its survival and the continuation of its coalition is Palestinian blood,” he said.

The Israeli occupation forces have killed or caused the death of 156 Palestinians since the start of the year in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including dozens of women and children.