Nayef Samaro had one thing on his mind when Israeli troops moved into Nablus on Thursday, June 26: getting to the hospital to meet his wife for the birth of their first child. He never made it.
Samaro, 25, was shot and killed during an Israeli military raid on Nablus, in the occupied West Bank. His son was born the same day — without his father there to see it.
The raid
Israeli forces carried out the operation in Nablus as Samaro was preparing to leave for the hospital. Details on what led to the shooting have not been released. The Israeli military hadn’t issued a public statement on the circumstances of Samaro’s death as of Thursday evening.
Palestinians in Nablus mourned Samaro as a father-to-be who died hours before he would have held his child for the first time. His wife gave birth — their son, their first — while her husband lay dead.
No other casualty figures from the Nablus raid were immediately available, and it’s unclear whether any arrests were made during the operation. What happens next for the family, and whether any investigation into the shooting will follow, remains an open question.
