On Tuesday, August 23, Palestinian resistance fighter, Muhammad Arayshi, succumbed to wounds that he sustained on August 9. Arayshi is reported to have been injured as he confronted the Israeli army assault on the Old City of Nablus, during a joint Israeli military and intelligence effort to extra-judicially assassinate Palestinian resistance fighters and leaders.
On Tuesday afternoon, Palestinians in the city of Nablus held a funeral procession for Arayshi. The image of Palestinians in Nablus carrying the slain bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces has become a familiar sight for the residents of Nablus.
In a video, a family member is seen touching Arayshi’s pale head shortly before burying him, somberly intoning, “every day a martyr. Every day.”
Israel continues killing Palestinians, resistance fighters or not
On the day of Arayshi’s injury, Israeli forces had raided the Old City of Nablus and used shoulder-launch missiles to target and kill Palestinian resistance. Three Palestinians were killed, including Islam Subuh, 32, and Ibrahim al-Nabulsi, 18, “the lion of Nablus.”
Arayshi is the 19th Palestinian to be killed in Nablus since the start of the year. This means that Israeli forces have at minimum been killing two Palestinians per month in Nablus alone. This includes children and minors.
Just a few days before Arayshi succumbed to his wounds, the city had buried another Palestinian, Wasim Abu Khalifa, 19. Abu Khalifa was shot and killed on August 18 by Israeli forces when they raided the city and were confronted by the gunfire of the local resistance. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), some 31 people were injured during the raid.
Less than 24 hours later, on Friday, August 19, the Israeli military raided Tubas, another district near Nablus, and killed Salah Sawafta, 58, with a sniper bullet to the head. He was declared dead at Rafidia Hospital in Nablus.
Palestinian resistance continues
Palestinian factions released statements mourning the killing of Sawafta and commending the ability of Palestinian resistance in challenging and confronting the Israeli military assault.
Sawafta became known as the “dawn’s martyr,” and was laid to rest in the Old Cemetery of Tubas. Footage shows Sawafta being shot as he walks out of the mosque after the morning prayer. Israeli forces had raided the town early at dawn when it was met with the armed confrontation of Palestinian resistance fighters. Sawafta was deliberately targeted by the Israeli military and shot in the head.
During his funeral procession, hundreds of Palestinians were grieving and chanting for accountability, and in support of Palestinian resistance to continue protecting the people in the face of the intensification of Israeli military incursions.
Increasingly, Palestinians are facing threats of being killed by the Israeli army and settlers, not just during periods of escalating settler aggression, but also through the increase of home demolition orders, the imposition of punitive economic measures on Palestinians by denying them work permits, and repressing the capacity of youth to mobilize and organize for an emancipated future.
Source: Mondoweiss
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