The calm will have been short-lived. Two Palestinians were killed on Tuesday morning in an operation carried out by Israeli forces in Nablus, in the northern West Bank – a Palestinian territory occupied by the Israeli army since 1967 -, the latter said. According to a press release, the soldiers “surrounded the house of the wanted man” and then “there was an exchange of fire”. Israeli police reported the use of a rocket to target the residence.
The two people killed are Ibrahim al-Nabulsi, a senior figure in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah movement, and another fighter. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said a third person had been killed, which the Israeli army did not report. He also said that 40 Palestinians were injured in the operation, four of whom are in critical condition.
Exchanges of fire between Palestinians and Israeli forces took place during the raid, according to an AFP correspondent on the spot, while a dozen army vehicles blocked traffic in the city. Clashes broke out in other parts of Nablus, where Palestinians threw stones at soldiers.
No injuries from the Israeli army
“Dozens of rioters threw stones and explosives at the soldiers who responded with the means of dispersal and by opening fire. Several people were injured” on the Palestinian side, confirmed the Israeli army. “Our forces then left the city and no casualties are to be deplored in our ranks,” she said.
This raid comes two days after the truce, which came into effect this Sunday evening at 11:30 p.m., between the Palestinian armed group Islamic Jihad and Israel. It had put an end to three days of bombardments on the Gaza Strip, which claimed the lives of 46 Palestinians, including children, and caused significant destruction in the enclave, according to a Hamas report.
It was the arrest last Monday in the occupied West Bank of Bassem Saadi, a leader of Islamic Jihad, which led to the outbreak of violence. The Israeli authorities justified their first strikes Friday, on the Gaza Strip, by their fears of reprisals from this Palestinian enclave under Israeli blockade where Islamic Jihad is well established. The latter had responded by firing rockets at Israel.