Israeli forces killed not less than 5 Palestinians, who had been allegedly armed, in a raid on a West Bank refugee camp on Monday, Israeli safety officers stated.
The raid within the metropolis of Jericho got here supposedly in response to a botched assault on Israelis that was prone to additional exacerbate tensions within the area.
The Palestinian Health Ministry, nonetheless, didn’t instantly affirm the deaths, saying solely that three had been injured, one in all them critically.
The violence comes amid one of many deadliest intervals lately within the Israeli-Palestinian battle and within the first weeks of Israel’s new authorities, it is most right-wing ever, which has promised to take a troublesome stance in opposition to the Palestinians.
The Israeli navy claimed it was working within the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp to apprehend the suspects behind a failed taking pictures assault final month at a West Bank restaurant, the place attackers allegedly had been thwarted by a weapon malfunction.
The attackers then fled the scene, the navy stated, including that they had been members of the Hamas armed group that guidelines the Gaza Strip and has parts within the West Bank as properly.
The navy claimed it was looking out Monday for the armed group behind the taking pictures that it stated had sealed itself inside a house within the refugee camp.
During the search, troops encountered the gunmen and a gun battle erupted. The navy claimed a number of of the gunmen who had been killed had been concerned within the tried assault on the restaurant.
The Israeli safety officers stated two of the 5 killed had been alleged Hamas members concerned within the tried assault. The three others had been allegedly gunmen who had exchanged hearth with troops in the course of the raid.
The officers spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to debate the raid with the media.
Hamas stated it mourned the deaths of the members of its armed wing, with out specifying what number of had died. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem stated the violence could be met with a response.
“Our people and their resistance will not delay in responding to this crime,” he stated.
The raid comes days after an earlier incursion within the Aqabat Jabr camp, which is close to the Palestinian metropolis of Jericho, a desert oasis in an space of the West Bank that not often sees such unrest, the place troops had been additionally looking for the suspects.
Since the taking pictures on the close by settlement, the Israeli navy has blocked entry to a number of roads into Jericho – a closure that has positioned town beneath a semi-blockade, disrupting business and creating hourslong bottlenecks at checkpoints that affected even Palestinian safety forces, footage confirmed.
Monday’s violence comes days after an Israeli navy raid on the Jenin refugee camp killed 10 Palestinians, principally militants but in addition a 61-year-old girl.
The subsequent day, a Palestinian taking pictures assault outdoors an east Jerusalem synagogue killed seven individuals, together with a 14-year-old.
The Israeli military has ramped up near-nightly raids within the occupied West Bank since a collection of lethal Palestinian assaults inside Israel final spring.
Over the final yr of escalating raids, Jericho has remained a type of sleepy desert city, spared a lot of the violence.
The Palestinian Authority, in retaliation for final week’s raid into the Jenin refugee camp, declared a halt to safety coordination with Israel.
Nearly 150 Palestinians had been killed final yr within the West Bank and East Jerusalem, making it the deadliest yr in these areas since 2004, in keeping with figures by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem.
Since the beginning of this yr, 41 Palestinians have been killed in these territories. Some 30 individuals had been killed in Israel by Palestinians in 2022.
The Israeli military says many of the Palestinians killed have been militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and others not concerned in confrontations have additionally been killed.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem within the 1967 Mideast battle. The Palestinians search these territories for his or her hoped-for unbiased state.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
