Israeli forces near the site where a soldier was shot dead, near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Shavei Shomron, October 11, 2022. MAJDI MOHAMMED / AP
After a deadly attack on an Israeli soldier on Saturday October 8 in East Jerusalem, a second Israeli soldier was killed on Tuesday October 11. This time the attack occurred in an area of the West Bank.
“Two attackers, riding in a vehicle, approached the town of Shavei Shomron and opened fire on Israeli soldiers” conducting “operations” in that area, the Israeli army said in a short message, specifying that a 21- year-old soldier died of his injuries.
Shavei Shomron is an Israeli settlement of just over 1,000 people established in the late 1970s near Nablus, a large city in the northern West Bank and the scene of clashes and Israeli operations in recent months.
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After deadly anti-Israel attacks in March and April, the army stepped up operations and arrests in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by the Jewish state since 1967, particularly in the Jenin and Nablus areas. These Israeli raids, often punctuated by clashes with the Palestinian population, left more than a hundred dead on the Palestinian side, the highest casualty toll in the West Bank in almost seven years, according to the United Nations (UN).
Emergence of a group of fighters
At the same time, a new group of fighters dubbed “The Den of the Lions” has emerged in Nablus in recent months in honor of Ibrahim Al-Nabulsi, a young fighter nicknamed the “Lion of Nablus” who was killed in August by the became the Israeli army after uniting hundreds, even thousands, of young Palestinians with its powerful rhetoric. On Tuesday, this group also claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on Israeli positions around Nablus.
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Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Israel would continue searching for those responsible for the attack. “We will not stop until we catch the killers,” Lapid said, according to a statement from his office.
“We will catch the terrorist and those who helped him. Counter-terrorism operations continue and intensify,” Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on Twitter of the deadly attack.
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The group “The Lion’s Den” responded to Gantz’s statements by calling on the people of Nablus to support them. “We ask our honorable citizens to support us and follow our instructions,” the group said in a statement.
Tensions in Shuafat
An 18-year-old Israeli soldier was shot dead in an attack on Saturday night at Checkpoint Chouafat, a Palestinian refugee camp in East Jerusalem, territory occupied and annexed by Israel. Since then, the Israeli army and police have been conducting a manhunt to find a 22-year-old Palestinian suspected of the attack, which also wounded three people, including a 30-year-old Israeli who was seriously injured by a gunshot sore head.
According to a photographer from Agence France-Presse (AFP) on the spot, the Israeli security services surrounded the Shuafat refugee camp in particular, the scene of clashes between young Palestinians and local forces.
“There is suffering in Chouafat. Sick or injured are struggling to leave the camp for treatment, bakeries are empty, doctors and nurses have no access,” Israeli Arab MP Ahmed Tibi told AFP at the scene. “To get out of the camp you have to queue for three or four hours in your car. It’s a collective punishment,” he added.
Residents of the refugee camp called for “civil disobedience” on Tuesday evening to protest against the measures taken by the Israeli authorities.
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