(Tulkarem) Three Palestinians were killed on Sunday in the north of the occupied West Bank, including a member of an armed group during an Israeli raid, we learned from reliable sources.
These events take place in a context of high tensions and intensification of violence in this Palestinian territory since the Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7 and the start of the war in the Gaza Strip.
On Sunday, the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell estimated that tensions in the West Bank, including the increase in attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, were “the real obstacle” to a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.
In Tulkarem, two men, aged 19 and 36, were shot dead following a raid by Israeli forces on the displaced camp, one of the largest in the region, the Ministry of Defense announced. Health of the Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank.
At least five other people were injured in this operation, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
The Israeli army explained that soldiers had gone to arrest a man, Mohammed Oufi, suspected of having “participated in attacks against Israeli forces and murders of people suspected of collaborating with them in Tulkarem”.
“Terrorists opened fire and threw explosives at Israeli forces, who responded,” killing the suspect who was “armed,” she added, specifying that an Israeli police officer had been “seriously injured and hospitalized.” “.
In a statement, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military branch of Fatah, the movement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, praised the “sacrifice” of the two men, specifying that Mohammed Oufi was one of their executives in the region.
Interviewed by AFP in Tulkarem, Issam Oufi said his brother Mohammed was a “proud member of the resistance” to Israel and had “fought for almost an hour and a half” with Israeli forces before dying.
Another Palestinian was killed by Israeli forces during an incident at a checkpoint near Nablus, some 35 km east of Tulkarem, the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry said.
Israeli forces confirmed in a statement that they had “neutralized” a man who “got out of a vehicle, headed towards soldiers [israéliens] and continued to advance towards them, giving no response as they challenged him.”
Fatah, the largest organization in the Palestinian Authority, deplored in a statement the death of this man, a member of its security services, “killed in cold blood”.
Since October 7, the Israeli army has intensified its operations, which it carries out almost daily, in the West Bank, with the stated objective of dismantling networks linked to Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.
At least 398 Palestinians have since been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers, according to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry.
The Israeli army said Friday it had arrested 3,100 Palestinians, including 1,350 Hamas members, in the West Bank since the start of the war.
Israel conquered the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip following the Six-Day War in 1967.
Nearly three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, alongside more than 490,000 Israeli settlers established illegally under international law. The Palestinians claim this territory as the heart of their future independent state.