NABLUS, Palestinian Territories — Six
Palestinians were killed by Israeli
occupation forces in sweeping raids Tuesday in the West Bank, and thousands of
Palestinians attended their funerals later in the day.
اضافة اعلان
The Palestinian
health ministry said five people were killed in Nablus in the northern West
Bank, where Israel confirmed an overnight raid. More than 20 people were also
injured, some of them critically, the Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported.
Another
Palestinian died from a gunshot wound to the chest during overnight Israeli
violence in Nabi Saleh, north of Ramallah, the health ministry said.
The Palestinian
presidency condemned the assault and killings, describing them as a war crime,
Wafa said.
A sea of mourners
carried bodies through the streets of Nablus ahead of the burials.
Israeli violence
has surged in recent months in the north of the West Bank, the Palestinian
territory occupied since 1967 by Israel, especially in the areas of Nablus and
Jenin.
More than 150
Palestinians have been killed since the start of the year, the heaviest toll in
the
West Bank for nearly seven years, according to the UN.
Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas is making “urgent contacts in order to stop this
aggression against our people” in Nablus, his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeinah said
in a statement.
Hamas chief
Ismail Haniyeh warned in a statement that the violence would “plunge Palestine
into escalation”.
Palestinian
movements in the Israeli-blockaded
Gaza Strip announced a general strike.
Khaled Al-Batsh,
a leader in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance group, urged
“confrontation” with Israel on all “fronts”.
Islamic Jihad
reported its fighters were involved in “violent clashes” with Israeli forces in
Nablus, and threatened Israel with reprisals “for its crimes”.
In recent weeks,
a group of young Palestinian fighters — some affiliated with groups such as
Fatah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad — have launched attacks from Nablus.
The new group,
called “Areen Al-Ossoud” or “The Lions’ Den” in English, claimed responsibility
for a deadly attack on an Israeli soldier two weeks ago in the West Bank.
Late leader
Ibrahim Al-Nabulsi, nicknamed “The Lion of Nablus”, was known for galvanizing
the youth before he was shot dead by Israeli forces in August. He has since
become a folk hero to Palestinians on social media.
In the aftermath,
the Israeli occupation forces tightened their grip on Nablus, setting up
controls to identify people leaving the city and constantly scanning the area
with observation drones.
Israel has
imposed an ongoing siege on
Nablus, “bringing daily life in the occupied West
Bank city to a virtual halt with devastating economic impacts on its
residents”, Wafa reported.
For the last 15
days, Israeli occupation forces have closed all checkpoints in and out of
Nablus and sealed off a network of side roads that connects 425,000 people
spread across four refugee camps, 55 villages, and one city.
On Saturday night, a
Lions’ Den fighter, Tamer Al-Kilani, was assassinated in Nablus by an
“explosion” attributed by the Israeli press to an Israeli bomb.
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