Two Palestinian fighters who opened fire on Israeli soldiers were killed Tuesday in the northern occupied West Bank, the latest episode in a spiral of violence in the Middle East.
The Israeli army said it opened fire and “neutralized two assailants” who fired from their vehicle in the direction of Elon Moreh’s military position, located near the Palestinian city of Nablus. In pursuit of other suspects, soldiers discovered several weapons in the area, including two M-16s, according to a military statement which specifies that there were no injuries in the ranks of the army .
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the two men as Saud Abdallah Saud al-Titi and Mohammad Ghazi Abu Dhraa. In a statement, the Fatah movement said they belonged to its armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and were from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus.
“I commend the soldiers who eliminated two terrorists who opened fire on them near Elon Moreh,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant wrote on Twitter. “The soldiers prevented an attack on Israeli civilians,” he added, hailing “a successful operation.”
In Deir al-Hatab, an AFP photographer saw Israeli soldiers inserting a body into an ambulance and others inspecting a white car with windows pierced by bullets.
Attack of violence
The West Bank, a Palestinian territory, has been occupied since 1967 by Israel. Nearly three million Palestinians live there, as well as around 490,000 Israelis in settlements considered by the UN to be illegal under international law.
Tuesday’s firefights come against a backdrop of an upsurge in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for nearly a week. The last few days have been punctuated by attacks and rocket attacks, followed by reprisals from the Jewish state, following the irruption of the Israeli police in the al-Aqsa mosque on April 5, in the middle of Ramadan.
It is located on the esplanade of the Mosques, the third holiest site in Islam and the holiest site in Judaism, also the epicenter of tensions in Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and security authorities also announced on Tuesday that they would ban Jewish visitors and tourists from entering the esplanade until the end of Ramadan next weekend.
On Tuesday, a British-Israeli woman fatally injured in an attack Friday, which also claimed the lives of two of her daughters, was buried in the settlement of Kfar Etzion, between Jerusalem and Hebron.
Since the beginning of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of at least 96 Palestinians, 19 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian, according to an AFP tally compiled from official Israeli and Palestinian sources. These figures include, on the Palestinian side, combatants and civilians, and, on the Israeli side, mostly civilians and three members of the Arab minority.
On Monday, Prime Minister Netanyahu promised to “restore security” after yet another outburst of violence. “I promise you, we will reach out to all the vile terrorists who have killed our citizens and they will be held to account, without exception,” he said.
He also announced that he had reconsidered his decision announced at the end of March to dismiss his Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, who had publicly been moved by the division caused in the country by the justice reform project wanted by his government.