Three Palestinians, including a senior Fatah movement commander, were killed and dozens injured in an Israeli army raid on Nablus in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, two days after a deadly Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip ended. Gaza.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, three Palestinians were killed during the operation in the Old City of Nablus, during which fire was exchanged between Palestinian activists and Israeli forces.
The Israeli army has reported two Palestinian deaths: Ibrahim al-Nabulsi, a senior official of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement, and another fighter.
The body of Ibrahim al-Nabulsi was transported by a dozen armed men to the Rafidia hospital in Nablus, in the north of the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 by Israel, where hundreds of Palestinians gathered.
“Our response will be commensurate with the crime,” Fatah’s armed wing said in a statement, confirming Nabulsi’s death.
rocket fire
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the other two dead as Islam Sabbouh, 25, and Hussein Taha, 16.
“The army was in the old town, my son went to the market just before me and my relatives […] there is a shootout and four of us were injured,” Jamal Taha, the father of the slain teenager, told AFP.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, 69 Palestinians were shot and injured, at least four of them in critical condition, in clashes linked to the Israeli operation.
Hundreds of people attended the funeral of the three killed, with gunmen firing into the air during the procession, an AFP team found.
The Israeli security services (police, army and internal intelligence) indicated that they carried out a raid, using a rocket, against a residence where Ibrahim al-Nabulsi was staying, suspected by Israel of being involved in a series of anti-terrorism attacks. Israelis.
“Then, violent clashes broke out with rioters throwing stones and explosives at the (Israeli) forces who responded by opening fire […] Our forces have left the city and there are no injuries in our ranks,” the army said, indicating that it had made four arrests in the West Bank.
An AFP photographer on the spot reported intense fighting in the old city of Nablus.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid praised the security forces for “carrying out a precise and very successful operation, without causing any casualties” on the Israeli side.
“Political Considerations”
The raid in Nablus came two days after the end of a deadly Israeli military operation launched against the Palestinian armed movement Islamic Jihad, based in the Gaza Strip.
According to a report by Hamas in power in Gaza, 46 Palestinians were killed, including many children, and several hundred were injured in three days of Israeli bombardment. The raids also caused significant destruction.
Two main Islamic Jihad military leaders in Gaza, Khaled Mansour and Tayssir Al-Jabari, were killed in the Israeli strikes. The military wing of Islamic Jihad has confirmed the deaths of 12 of its fighters in the operation.
In response to the bombardments during the Israeli operation presented as a preventive measure against the Islamic Jihad, the latter fired a thousand rockets in the direction of Israel, the vast majority having been intercepted according to the army.
Rocket fire from Gaza injured three people in Israel, according to local relief.
A truce between Islamic Jihad and Israel, favored by Egypt, came into effect on Sunday evening, which allowed the reopening of the crossings between the Jewish state and the Gaza Strip, an enclave under Israeli blockade for more than 100 years. 15 years old.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said the operation in Gaza had “dealed a devastating blow to the enemy” and told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi by phone that he “appreciated” his country’s mediation.
Israel considers Hamas and Islamic Jihad to be “terrorist groups”.
“The Israeli government is not interested in calm and stability, it exploits and kills Palestinians for internal political considerations”, in the run-up to the early legislative elections of November 1 in Israel, accused Nabil Abou Roudeina on Tuesday. , the spokesperson for Mr. Abbas.