Palestinians Say Israeli Troops Kill Two in West Bank Raids

Palestinian mourners carry the body of Ahmad Aslan, killed during an Israeli military raid in the Qalandia refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank, on July 24, 2024 at a hospital in Ramallah. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
Palestinian mourners carry the body of Ahmad Aslan, killed during an Israeli military raid in the Qalandia refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank, on July 24, 2024 at a hospital in Ramallah. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
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Palestinians Say Israeli Troops Kill Two in West Bank Raids

Palestinian mourners carry the body of Ahmad Aslan, killed during an Israeli military raid in the Qalandia refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank, on July 24, 2024 at a hospital in Ramallah. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
Palestinian mourners carry the body of Ahmad Aslan, killed during an Israeli military raid in the Qalandia refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank, on July 24, 2024 at a hospital in Ramallah. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)

Palestinian officials said Israeli troops killed two men, including a customs officer, in separate raids in the West Bank on Wednesday, the latest violence to rock the occupied Palestinian territory.

The raids were carried out before dawn in Qalandiya refugee camp and the town of Tubas, residents and officials said.

When contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was "looking into" reports of the two deaths.

Palestinian sources identified the men killed as Ahmad Nidal Aslan, 19, from Qalandiya, and Abdul Nasser Muhannad Sarhan, 23, from Tubas.

Residents of Qalandiya said Aslan was killed when Israeli forces shot him after they entered the town to demolish the home of Mohammad Manasra, accused by Israel of carrying out a deadly attack on a West Bank settlement in February.

Clashes erupted after the troops blew up the second floor of the building. Six men were wounded, they added.

"At dawn, the occupation soldiers fired two bullets at Ahmad. He was taken to hospital where he died," a resident told AFP, declining to be identified for safety reasons.

Further north in Tubas, the Palestinian health ministry said Israeli troops shot dead Sarhan and wounded two others.

"The Israeli army raided the town of Tubas at dawn and arrested two young men," a resident of the town told AFP, also declining to be identified.

"As they were leaving, they fired at Sarhan and another young man."

The Palestinian customs authority said Sarhan was one of its officers.

The health ministry said the death toll from an Israeli raid on the town of Tulkarem on Tuesday had risen to six after a Palestinian shot by troops died of his wounds.



US Invites Sudan's Warring Parties for Talks

FILE PHOTO: A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
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US Invites Sudan's Warring Parties for Talks

FILE PHOTO: A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo

Washington has invited the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces for US-mediated ceasefire talks starting on Aug. 14 in Switzerland, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday.

RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo said early on Wednesday they will constructively participate in the talks to achieve "a comprehensive ceasefire across the country and facilitate humanitarian access to all those in need."
"We reaffirm our firm stance ... which is the insistence on saving lives, stopping the fighting, and paving the way for a peaceful, negotiated political solution that restores the country to civilian rule and the path of democratic transition," Dagalo said in a statement.

The talks will include the African Union, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations as observers, Blinken said in a statement. Saudi Arabia will be a co-host for the discussions, he added.

"The scale of death, suffering, and destruction in Sudan is devastating. This senseless conflict must end," Blinken said, calling on the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF to attend the talks and approach them constructively.

The war in Sudan, which erupted in April 2023, has forced almost 10 million people from their homes, sparked warnings of famine and waves of ethnically-driven violence.