IDF soldiers kill 14-year-old, hang Israeli flag on mosque in two raids on West Bank camps

Relatives mourn the death of 14-year-old Islam Ajouri, who was killed by Israeli forces, Nablus hospital, 23 August 2026

Jack Khoury reports in Haaretz on 23 August 2026:

Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy during a raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank on Sunday, medics and witnesses said, as troops hung an Israeli flag on the tower of a mosque in another camp.

According to an eyewitness who spoke with Haaretz, about 10 Israeli military vehicles entered al-Askar refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus around 10 A.M. and raided buildings along the camp’s main street and nearby alleys.

The witness added that three gunshots were heard as the forces withdrew from the eastern part of the camp, and a 14-year-old was shot in the chest.  Medics later said the boy, identified as 14-year-old Islam Ajouri, was critically wounded by direct gunfire to his chest and was later pronounced dead at the government hospital in Nablus.

According to the witness who spoke with Haaretz, Israeli forces continued patrolling buildings and agricultural fields near the scene of the shooting until withdrawing from the refugee camp around midday.

Also on Sunday, footage from the Nur Shams refugee camp, east of the Palestinian city of Tulkarm, showed an Israeli flag on the tower of the local Abu Ubaida Mosque after an IDF raid.  Footage of the flag on the Abu Ubaida Mosque’s minaret has gone viral on social media, and Tulkarm’s Waqf – a Muslim religious trust – condemned the incident as “a violation of the sanctity of the mosque.”

The IDF has yet to respond to requests for comment.

Nur Shams has been under Israeli military control since January last year. In January 2025, the IDF took control of the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps and expelled most of their residents. During the operation, which it dubbed “Iron Wall,” the IDF forced tens of thousands of people from their homes and demolished buildings in the camps.

Last month, Defense Minister Israel Katz said he has instructed the IDF to prepare to take control of a refugee camp and expel its Palestinian residents amid Israel’s unfolding West Bank offensive. The statements followed clashes in the village of Tell, near Nablus, that left two Israelis and four Palestinians dead.

The Palestinian city of Nablus has three refugee camps in its vicinity: Balata, Askar and Ein al-Sultan (al-Ein). Katz didn’t specify in his July statement which camp he instructed the IDF to take over.

In June, legal documents obtained by Haaretz showed that the Israeli army began establishing a permanent military base in the West Bank city of Jenin, the first military post set up in Area A – controlled by the Palestinian Authority – since the 1993 Oslo Accords.

In one of the documents, the army stated that “on May 7, 2026, the commander of the IDF Central Command signed a land seizure order for the establishment of a military outpost near the Jenin refugee camp.”

The IDF said the base is “intended to replace the presence of forces in residents’ homes (in the Jenin refugee camp), and to regulate troop deployment in the area from a long-term perspective, as part of creating the operational conditions for a safe withdrawal from the refugee camp.”

However, sources familiar with developments on the ground told Haaretz that the army base is also likely intended to help protect Israeli settlers who are returning to live in the Jenin area in the northern West Bank.

Matan Golan, Chen Maanit and Yarden Michaeli contributed to this report.

This article is reproduced in its entirety