A Palestinian teenager was killed when heavy clashes erupted in Nablus late Wednesday and early Thursday while Jewish worshipers held a monthly pilgrimage under military guard to a shrine in the Palestinian West Bank city.
The visit to Joseph’s Tomb came a week after the city saw rare daytime shootings between troops and Palestinian militants. It was the first visit to the shrine since late June, when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on pilgrims, injuring a senior Israeli Defense Forces officer and two civilians.
Wassim Khalifa, 19, was shot by a sniper during the clashes and taken to a hospital before succumbing to his injuries, Palestinian media reported, citing the Palestinian Red Crescent Ambulance Service.
Khalifa was reportedly from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus.
Dozens more were injured, including at least one person who was taken to hospital in serious condition, the al Quds news site reported. Most of the other injuries were due to tear gas inhalation.
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The IDF did not comment on the clashes, but confirmed in a statement that army and border police forces ensured a coordinated pilgrimage.
Fighting broke out when a convoy of Jewish believers and IDF soldiers entered the city for a monthly visit to the tomb, revered by some as the final resting place of the biblical Joseph, where they met resistance from locals.
#نابلس جبل النار هذه الأثناء..
يا مُقاومة اشتدي .. هزي حصون العدااللهم المُجاهدين في نابلس يا رب العالمين pic.twitter.com/MTl0G1vkpO
— أميرة فؤاد #غزة (@amira_nahal) August 17, 2022
Clashes during visits are common; Palestinians routinely throw stones at the troops and frequently attack them with Molotov cocktails and gunfire.
No injuries were reported among the Israelis, although one bullet struck an armored bus used by the Israeli group.
קליע פגע באוטובוס מתפללים בדרך לקבר יוסף; הרכב ממוגן ירי – אין נפגעים בגוף@Doron_Kadosh pic.twitter.com/FjhRMO8QY7
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) August 17, 2022
Heavy gunfire was heard in footage from the scene shared on social media.
It was not clear if the Israeli convoy had left the city at the time of publication.
Ider pic.twitter.com/ynZIHtquTB
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) August 17, 2022
مقاومة شرسة تدور رحاها في جبل النار #نابلس pic.twitter.com/kq8LYSpGUF
— عياش (@Ayashkvck) August 17, 2022
The clashes left the city already jittery after a rare daylight raid on August 9, prompting a series of gunfire. Israeli forces have killed wanted terrorist leader Ibrahim Nabulsi in a shootout outside his home. Two others were killed and forty others were injured in the clashes.
Nabulsi was part of an Islamic Jihad group that carried out several shootings against soldiers and civilians in the West Bank earlier in the year, according to Shin Bet. The IDF said this included a shootout at the Joseph’s Tomb complex, where there have been several recent attacks.
Tensions have been high at the site since April, when about 100 Palestinian rioters broke into and vandalized the shrine.
Illustrative: Israeli soldiers escort hundreds of Jewish worshipers to the holy site of Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus in the northern West Bank, December 10, 2018. (Israel Defense Forces)
A day after the vandalism, two Jewish men were shot dead and suffered minor to moderate injuries while trying to reach the tomb to restore it. Israel later undertook extensive renovations at the site.
On June 29, the commander of the Samaria Regional Brigade, Colonel Roy Zweig, who was helping to clean up the site, was shot dead along with two civilians when Palestinians aimed heavy gunfire at the shrine grounds during a monthly pilgrimage. All three suffered minor injuries.
דיווח ראשוני: ירי לעבר קבר יוסף בשכם – שני אזרחים וחייל נפצעו קל@carmeldangor pic.twitter.com/VMUx0yH9c2
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) June 29, 2022
Two weeks later, an Israeli man was shot and slightly injured while trying to reach the site during an uncoordinated visit with three others.
Joseph’s tomb is located in Area A of the West Bank, which is officially under full Palestinian Authority control, although the Israeli military conducts activities there. The IDF prohibits Israeli citizens from entering Zone A without prior permission.
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