Young man martyred and his body detained in Ramallah amid international warnings of annexation plans

The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced this morning the martyrdom of 18-year-old Haitham Ezzedine Omar Hamaida, who was shot by Israeli occupation forces. The incident occurred during a military incursion targeting the village of Beitin, located east of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

Local sources confirmed that the occupation forces not only fatally shot the young man but also detained his body and prevented medical teams from providing him with first aid. This action is part of the policy of detaining the bodies of martyrs, which Israeli authorities frequently employ against Palestinians.

Beitin village witnessed violent confrontations during the night hours following the occupation vehicles' incursion into its neighborhoods, where soldiers fired live ammunition and tear gas heavily. These assaults led to fires in large areas of agricultural land belonging to the villagers, causing severe material losses.

For its part, the Israeli occupation army claimed that its soldiers observed a group of young men throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli vehicles passing on the main road near the village. The military statement claimed that the shooting was a direct response to this threat, noting the ongoing pursuit of other participants in the incident.

In a related context, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society stated that its teams received an urgent report about an injured person in an area near the 'Beit El' settlement, which is built on citizens' lands. The society clarified that the occupation forces prevented ambulances from reaching the site and later refused to hand over the body to paramedics for transport to the hospital.

Official statistics indicate a sharp increase in the number of casualties in the West Bank since the start of the aggression on the Gaza Strip in October 2023. At least 1076 Palestinians have been martyred by Israeli occupation forces and settlers, amid intensive military campaigns targeting Palestinian cities, camps, and villages daily.

On the diplomatic front, the Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, called on the American administration to exert real pressure to stop Israeli annexation plans. Mansour pointed out during a press conference in New York that Washington has the necessary tools to prevent the Israeli government from taking steps that would completely undermine the chances of achieving peace and stability.

Mansour stressed that the continuation of settlement policies in the occupied territories poses a direct threat to regional and international security. He demanded effective international action to stop Israeli encroachment on Palestinian lands, considering that international silence encourages the occupation to proceed with imposing a new reality that will be difficult to change in the future.

For his part, the Saudi Ambassador to the United Nations, Abdulaziz Al-Wasil, warned against Israeli endeavors aimed at changing the demographic and geographical reality in the West Bank. Al-Wasil affirmed that these systematic practices aim to undermine the possibility of establishing an independent and sovereign Palestinian state, which requires a firm stance from the international community.

At the conclusion of diplomatic efforts, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation called on the UN Security Council to fulfill its legal and moral responsibilities towards the Palestinian people. The organization, through Turkey's representative, called for immediate action to stop settlement activities and forced displacement, and to ensure accountability for those responsible for ongoing violations of international law.

Israeli practices constitute a continuous process of changing the demographic and geographical reality in the Palestinian territories, which threatens the possibility of establishing an independent state.