The balance sheet had never been so heavy for more than 15 years. 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 approximately three hours.
More than 80 people injured
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.
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, based in the city.