Doctors transport the body of a Palestinian killed in an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on February 22, 2023. JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP
The alert threshold was raised in Israel following this operation in the West Bank, which the Palestinian Authority said injured 102 people.
gaza
The alert threshold was raised in Israel on Thursday after an operation by the Israeli army in the old city of Nablus, a stronghold of the Palestinian resistance. The raid, which took place in the middle of the day, took a heavy toll: 11 Palestinians were killed and 102 injured. This brings the number of Palestinians killed in clashes with the Israeli army to 61 since the beginning of the year, according to a report by the Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry. Two Israeli soldiers were also injured in the operation.
According to a spokesman for the Israeli armed forces, the soldiers received information from the Shin Beit secret service that three men were hiding in a building in the old city, which required immediate action. They were wanted on suspicion of being involved in the death of an Israeli soldier outside the Shavei Shomron colony near Nablus in early October. According to the Israeli army, two of these men belonged to the “Lion’s Den” movement, while a third was a member of Islamic Jihad. They were all 24 years old. “It wasn’t a usual operation,” admitted the officer, before specifying that while the special forces “neutralized” the “terrorists,” other units were under fire from surrounding buildings. During the operation, an anti-tank missile was fired at the building where the Palestinian activists had taken refuge.
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threat of retaliation
Later in the afternoon, the Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry notified the identities and ages of the other victims of that operation. The oldest was 72 and the youngest 16. At her funeral Thursday afternoon, the crowd reportedly called on Hamas and Islamic Jihad to avenge her death.
A Hamas spokesman responded from Gaza, saying that “the resistance forces in Gaza are monitoring the enemy’s crimes and are running out of patience.” For its part, Islamic Jihad issued a press release affirming that “the blood of the Nablus martyrs was not shed in vain”. He threatened retaliation.
Solidarity rallies were held in Gaza and residents braced for the possibility of an Israeli bombardment in the event of rocket attacks, which have multiplied in recent weeks. A strike day was declared in Gaza on Thursday, and the schools remain closed. According to the Israeli army spokesman, no deployment of additional battalions in the West Bank was planned. “Everyone is ready, we don’t want any escalation,” he said. On the other hand, the iron dome, the anti-missile defense system, was strengthened on Thursday.