PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: Palestinian and Israeli troops battled in the air and on the ground on Monday, with a drone downed and rockets fired over Gaza, and 2 militants shot dead in the West Bank, the Palestinian territories’ officials said, as the military reported a raid targeting firing attack suspects.
In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian fighters said they fired rockets at an Israeli warplane after it targeted their drone.
The violence followed a weekend of lethal incidents, which ended a relative calm since the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan ten days ago.
In the West Bank city of Nablus, 2 martyrs were shot by the occupation forces, the Palestinian health ministry said. It later named them Mohammed al-Hallaq and Mohammed Abu Bakr without giving their ages.
At their funeral prayers, an AFP journalist saw thousands of mourners, among them dozens of masked, armed men, march through the streets of the city, parading their bodies. Gunshots were also fired in the air.
Lions’ Den, a local militant group, claimed that 2 men as members and said in a statement that its fighters were involved in “confronting the occupation troops’ storming of the city of Nablus.
The Israeli forces said it carried out the raid to apprehend 2 individuals linked to a shooting attack in March in which 2 Israeli soldiers were injured in Huwara, West Bank.
The army statement said that during the activity, a number of armed men fired at the troops who responded with live fire. 2 people were arrested.
Israeli troops have carried out regular raids in the region — including several in the militants’ stronghold of Nablus, where the Lions’ Den outfit emerged over the past few months.
The Islamist group Hamas, the ruler of the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, said that it mourns the martyrdom of 2 Palestinian freedom fighters in Israel’s “storming” of Nablus.
Hamas’ missiles on drones
Hamas also said it had fired surface-to-air missiles at an Israeli warplane after it targeted one of the outfit’s drones.
A spokesperson for the Israeli forces confirmed to AFP that shoulder-fired missiles were launched toward the fighter plane. He added that no damage was done, and no injuries were reported. – AFP
