Article author:
Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli forces killed two Palestinian gunmen in a shootout during an arrest operation in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday, police said. .
Palestinian health officials said at least 40 were killed in a shootout a day after a three-day ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad groups in the Gaza Strip had ended.
Israeli police say troops surrounded the home of Ibrahim al-Nablushi, who they say was wanted in a series of shootings in the West Bank earlier this year. said. They said al-Nabsi and another Palestinian militant were killed in a shootout at the scene and that troops found weapons and explosives in his home.
Israel has carried out nearly nightly arrest raids in the West Bank in recent months as part of its crackdown on Palestinian extremist groups, particularly Islamic Jihad. Nineteen Israelis died earlier this year. During these arrest raids, dozens of Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli forces.
Last week, Israel arrested Bassam al-Saadi, a senior Islamic Jihadist fighter, in the West Bank city of Jenin during a night operation. The group said it was "on alert" and said on Friday that Israel had launched a series of attacks against Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip in response to "imminent threats" from militant groups.
At least 46 Palestinians, including 16 children and four of his women, were killed and 311 wounded in his three-day fighting in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. did. Twelve of those killed were Islamic Jihad fighters, one a minor armed group and two Hamas-affiliated police officers who had not taken part in the fighting, according to armed factions.
Israel estimates that a total of 47 Palestinians were killed, 14 of whom were killed by Islamic Jihad rocket failures. Israeli airstrikes have killed 20 militants and seven civilians and said six deaths are being investigated.
Israel occupied the West Bank in her 1967 war in the Middle East, and Palestinians are seeking it as a future national center. Israel considers the West Bank to be the center of Jewish biblical and historical affairs, and is building dozens of settlements that are now home to more than 400,000 Israelis.
Palestinians and much of the international community consider Israel's West Bank settlement to be a violation of international law and an obstacle to the peaceful resolution of the decades-old conflict.
