NABLUS, West Bank (AP) — Israeli forces entered a major Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday in a rare daytime arrest operation, sparking fighting that has killed at least 10 Palestinians and wounded dozens more.
The raid, which reduced a building to rubble and left a number of shops riddled with bullets, was one of the bloodiest battles in nearly a year of fighting in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Among the dead were two men, ages 72 and 61, and 102 people were injured, Palestinian officials said.
The Israeli operation, coupled with the high death toll, promised more bloodshed. A similar raid last month was followed by a deadly Palestinian attack outside a synagogue in Jerusalem, and the Hamas militant group warned that “their patience is running out.”
In a move that could further increase tensions, Israel’s West Bank settlers organization said Israeli officials have approved the construction of nearly 2,000 new homes in West Bank settlements. The Israeli government did not immediately confirm the decision, which came just two days after the UN Security Council issued a watered-down statement against settlements.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Wednesday that the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories was “most volatile in years” and called the Israeli operation in Nablus, which killed 10 Palestinians and wounded more than 80, “deeply concerning”. He called for increased efforts to prevent further escalation of violence, defuse tensions and restore calm.
The Israeli military said it entered Nablus on Wednesday to arrest three wanted militants suspected of earlier shootings in the West Bank, including the killing of an Israeli soldier last fall.
The military usually conduct raids at night to reduce the risk of civilian casualties. It said it took advantage of a rare opportunity after intelligence agencies located the men in hiding and warned they posed an imminent threat.
The army said they surrounded the building and urged the men to surrender, but instead they opened fire. When one of the militants tried to flee the building, he was shot dead, Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, a military spokesman. The military then fired rockets at the house, he added, leaving it in ruins and killing the other two men.
A recently formed armed group based in the old city of Nablus called The Lion’s Den, which has gained prominence in recent months, confirmed the militants were its members.
During the raid, the military said gunmen in the city “fired heavily” at the forces, who responded with live fire. Others were said to have hurled rocks and explosives at the troops. The military released a video taken from inside an armored vehicle as a crowd of Palestinian youth threw stones at it. There were no Israeli casualties.
Time-stamped security footage widely circulated online appeared to show two unarmed young men running down a street. Gunshots are heard and they both fall to the ground, one hat flying off his head. Both bodies stayed still.
Hecht called the video “problematic” and said the military is reviewing it.
In the old city of Nablus, people stared at the rubble that had been the great house on the centuries-old market square. The stores were riddled with bullets from end to end. Parked cars were crushed. Blood stained the cement ruins. Furniture from the destroyed house lay scattered among piles of rubble.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said 102 people were injured, six of whom are in critical condition. Various Palestinian militant groups claimed six of the dead – including the three from Lion’s Den targeted in the raid – as members. But two men aged 72 and 61 were also killed. It was initially not known whether the other armed groups belonged.
Last month, Israeli forces killed 10 militants in a similar raid in the northern West Bank. The following day, a lone Palestinian gunman opened fire near a synagogue in a settlement in east Jerusalem, killing seven people.
Days later, five Palestinian militants were killed in an Israeli raid to arrest them elsewhere in the West Bank. This was followed by a Palestinian car that rammed three Israelis, including two young brothers, in Jerusalem.
The fighting comes at a sensitive time, less than two months after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new hard-line government took office. The government is dominated by ultra-nationalists who have pushed for tougher crackdowns on Palestinian militants. Israeli media have quoted senior security officials as expressing concern it could lead to more violence.
The Israeli police announced that they would strengthen their forces and put them on high alert in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The cabinet includes a number of West Bank settler leaders, one of whom has been given authority over settlement building.
Yesha, the settlements council, announced that Israeli planning officials had approved nearly 2,000 new homes in settlements across the West Bank. The defense agency that issues the permits, the Civil Administration, said the meeting was ongoing on Wednesday and an announcement would not be made until Thursday after the two-day meeting ended.
The Palestinians and most of the international community say that settlements built on occupied land are illegal and an obstacle to peace. Over 700,000 settlers now live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas conquered by Israel in 1967 and aspired to by the Palestinians for a future state.
The Israeli decision follows the UN President’s statement harshly criticizing the settlements. The US blocked a legally binding Council resolution.
American diplomats claimed to have extracted an Israeli promise to stop unilateral action to block the resolution. Israel’s approval of new settlements appears to contradict this claim.
In the Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the ruling militant group Hamas issued a veiled threat after the attack on Nablus.
“The Gaza Resistance is watching the enemy’s escalating crimes against our people in the occupied West Bank, and their patience is running out,” said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the group.
Palestinian activists burned tires along the Gaza-Israel border in protest late Wednesday.
Hamas has fought Israel in four wars since it took control of Gaza in 2007, and Israeli officials have expressed concern over rising tensions ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins in the second half of March.
At least 55 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem this year, a rate that could exceed last year’s death toll. Last year nearly 150 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, making it the deadliest year in those areas since 2004, according to figures from Israeli rights group B’Tselem.
Israel says most of those killed were militants, but others – including youth protesting the raids and other people not involved in confrontations – were also killed. An AP census showed that almost half of those killed belonged to militant groups.
Israel says the military strikes are designed to smash militant networks and thwart future attacks, while the Palestinians see them as further entrenchment of Israel’s indefinite 55-year occupation.
In the 1967 Middle East War, Israel conquered the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, areas that the Palestinians aspire to as their hoped-for independent state.
___
Federman reported from Jerusalem.