IOF soldiers storm Balata, wound fisherman in Gaza

IOF soldiers storm Balata, wound fisherman in Gaza

NABLUS — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus city, at an early hour on Wednesday and paralyzed life in the camp for almost an hour.

Eyewitnesses in the camp reported that no arrests were made but they broke into a bakery and detained all workers inside until the raid ended.

Sources in the city said that the incursion was apparently intended as a training exercise for new soldiers on storming Palestinian cities and refugee camps.

Other IOF units stormed the city of Nablus before dawn and the city of Jenin at dawn and provocatively roamed the streets.

IOF command said that the soldiers rounded up six “wanted” Palestinians at dawn Wednesday in the West Bank.

In the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian fisherman was wounded off the Rafah coast on Wednesday when Israeli navy gunboats fired at him while fishing at sea.

The fisheries department in the ministry of agriculture said that Bilal Al-Najjar, 20, was hit with a bullet in his abdomen and that he was carried to hospital.

The ministry held the IOF fully responsible for the lives of Palestinian fishermen, and called for protecting them while practicing their sole profession.