Israel’s Military Opens Fire on Diplomatic Delegation in West Bank
In a tense incident, the Israeli military opened fire on a diplomatic delegation near the town of Dschenin in the West Bank on Wednesday. The Israeli Defense Forces confirmed the incident in the afternoon, stating that the delegation had strayed from the authorized route and entered an area where they were not supposed to be.
The delegation, which included a German diplomat and a driver from the Ramallah Representation, was on a mission to monitor the situation in the region, particularly in the context of the Israeli military operation “Iron Wall” in the northern West Bank.
The Israeli military claimed to have fired “warning shots” to keep the delegation at a distance, but the German government and the European Union condemned the move, calling it an “unprovoked attack” that was a serious breach of international law.
“We are lucky that nothing worse happened” a spokesperson for the German Foreign Office said, adding that the delegation’s independent monitoring role was essential and posed no threat to Israeli security interests.
The German government urged the Israeli government to immediately clarify the circumstances of the incident and to respect the inviolability of diplomats.
The West Bank town of Dschenin is an Area A, under the full security responsibility of the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to the Oslo Accords. The German government has criticized Israel’s plans to leave its military in the Dschenin refugee camp in the long term as “unacceptable” arguing that the PA is responsible for combating terrorism in the area.
The presence of Israeli security forces in the self-governing Palestinian territory undermines the PA’s efforts to act as a legitimate representative of Palestinian interests, the German Foreign Office stated.