Ten Palestinians, including a 16-year-old boy, were killed and more than 80 others wounded by gunfire in an Israeli military raid in Nablus, the scene of recurring and deadly clashes in the northern occupied West Bank, according to the Authority Palestinian.
This is the deadliest incursion into the West Bank since at least 2005, tied with that of January 26 in Jenin, also in the northern West Bank, during which 10 Palestinians, including fighters and a woman in her 60s, had been killed.
In a statement, the Israeli army said it had carried out an “anti-terrorist operation” in Nablus during which “three suspects wanted and involved in armed attacks (in the West Bank) and planning attacks for the immediate future (were) neutralized “.
The Israeli soldiers remained in this autonomous Palestinian area for about three hours, noted an AFP journalist.
In addition to the teenager, nine men between the ages of 23 and 72 were killed during the incursion, the Palestinian health ministry said. Islamic Jihad said one of the local commanders of its military wing was among the dead.
At least 82 people have been hospitalized with gunshot wounds at different facilities in the major Palestinian city, some of whom are in serious condition, the ministry said in a statement.
Asked by AFP, the Israeli army did not comment on these assessments and said “to have no information to give” on the operation in the immediate future.
An AFP journalist saw Israeli soldiers fire tear gas canisters at young Palestinians in central Nablus, who threw stones at military vehicles and burned tires.
A journalist from Palestine TV, Mohammed Al Khatib, was injured during the incursion, a reporter from the television channel told AFP.
“Massacre”
Israeli forces have been stepping up for nearly a year what they present as “anti-terrorist” operations in search of “suspects” in the northern West Bank, particularly in the cities of Nablus and Jenin, strongholds of Palestinian armed groups.
The last major Israeli operation in Nablus dates from October 2022. Five Palestinians were killed there in this raid targeting the armed group Areen al-Oussoud (“The Den of the Lions”) based in the city.
In a message posted on Telegram, the movement said it took part in clashes with Israeli forces and waged “a battle of honor”.
The funerals of the 10 Palestinians are due to take place in the afternoon.
On Twitter, Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh denounced a “massacre” and called on the international community to “intervene immediately”.
These latest clashes come against a backdrop of renewed violence since the beginning of the year in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 by Israel.
The Israeli raid in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin at the end of January was followed by exchanges of fire between armed groups in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli army and a deadly attack in East Jerusalem.
“Preventing further violence is an urgent priority,” Tor Wennesland, UN mediator for the Middle East, said on Monday.
Since the beginning of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 58 Palestinians (including members of armed groups and civilians, including minors), nine Israeli civilians (including three minors) and one Ukrainian, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli and Palestinian sources.