Israeli army showers Arroub refugee camp with tear gas. (File photo)
Three Palestinian young men were shot and injured on Wednesday by live bullets unleashed by the Israeli occupation forces during a raid into the Arroub refugee camp, north of AlKhalil city, in the southern occupied West Bank, according to local sources.
Israeli military troops stormed the Arroub refugee camp overnight and attacked Palestinians in the area, resulting in violent clashes.
Israeli soldiers randomly fired barrages of caliber bullets, known as Toto ammunition, and tear gas canisters toward the camp residents and their homes, injuring three people.
Dozens of Palestinians who protested the raid suffocated due to heavy tear gas inhalation.
Arroub camp is located in the southern part of the West Bank between Bethlehem and Hebron. It is situated mainly within Area B, although the section along Road 60 falls within Area C. An Israeli military watchtower is located immediately outside the camp.
Arroub camp has one of the highest numbers of Israeli military incursions of all refugee camps in the West Bank. Clashes are frequent, as is the use of tear gas, sound bombs and plastic-coated metal bullets by the Israeli military. A 17-year-old Palestine refugee was killed on 17 May 2021 amid heightened clashes in the occupied West Bank linked to the threatened displacement of eight Palestine refugee families in Sheikh Jarrah and Israeli military incursions into the Haram al-Sharif compound. Arrests and the detention of children in Israeli prisons are not infrequent during these clashes.
As with other camps in the West Bank, Arroub is characterized by high unemployment, overcrowding and poor living conditions. Many refugees continue to live in substandard shelters. The sewerage and storm-water network is in need of rehabilitation and contributes to flooding in some parts of the camp during the winter months.