NABLUS: Palestinian security forces in Occupied West Bank fired tear gas on Wednesday as mourners attending the funeral of a Hamas militant killed by Israeli forces chanted slogans against the Palestinian Authority.

Hundreds marched through the streets of the northern West Bank city of Nablus for the funeral of Hamas fighter Abdel Fatah Hussein Khroushah, 49, who was killed a day earlier along with five other Pale­stinians in an Israeli raid in Jenin.

The Israeli army claimed Khr­oushah was responsible for the killing of two Israeli settlers in Huwara.

Hamas’s armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, called him a “heroic martyr”.

UN envoy asks Israeli, Palestinian officials to exercise restraint

As mourners carried the body of Khroushah, some shouted slogans against the Palestinian security forces and other officials, including calling them “spies” for Israel.

Palestinian officers fired tear gas and stun grenades, an AFP correspondent said, and the body was taken in an ambulance.

Meanwhile in Jenin, crowds marched through the streets during the funerals of the five other Palestinians killed on Tuesday.

‘Call for calm’

Meanwhile, the UN Middle East peace envoy urged Israel and the Palestinians to calm surging violence in Occupied West Bank.

“We are in the midst of a cycle of violence that must be stopped immediately,” Tor Wennesland said in a statement.

“The Security Council has spoken with one voice, calling on the parties to observe calm and restraint, and to refrain from provocative actions, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric.”

Wennesland said he was “alar­med” at the violence, which the army said included soldiers launching shoulder-fired rockets amid ferocious gunfire. Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, called the use of rockets in Jenin refugee camp on Tuesday an act of “all-out war”, Wafa reported.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2023