JERUSALEM: Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinians in a pre-dawn firefight in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian and Israeli sources said Sunday, amid a surge in violence in the region.
The Israeli army claimed “the Palestinians opened fire” at an army position near the Jit junction, west of Nablus in the northern West Bank, with the soldiers responding with “live fire.” A Nablus-based militant group said the Israeli troops had laid an ambush for them.
The Palestinian health ministry identified three men killed by Israeli gunfire near Nablus as Jihad al-Shami, 24, Uday al-Shami, 22, and Mohammad Dabeek, 18. According to the army, “three Palestinians were killed during the exchange of fire, and an additional Palestinian surrendered himself to the forces.”
It noted in a statement none of the Israeli forces were injured in the clash. The army claimed that the soldiers recovered three M-16 rifles and a pistol used by the Palestinians. The Lions’ Den, an emerging Palestinian militant group that claims to rise above traditional factional loyalties and has been blamed for several attacks on Israeli targets, identified the three as members. A statement from the group said the three had engaged in combat after identifying the Israeli ambush, vowing to revenge the “martyrs.”
Violence intensified in occupied West Bank
In the West Bank – which Israel has occupied since the Six-Day War of 1967 – violence intensified last year but has worsened after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to office in December at the head of a hard-right coalition.
Hamas, the Islamic rulers of the Gaza Strip, said the latest deaths would “fuel the great West Bank intifada,” or uprising. Islamic Jihad, another Gaza-based militant group, said the deaths were part of the “all-out war” it argued Israel had launched against the Palestinian people. “Our people’s resistance will remain steadfast,” the group said in a statement, “no matter what the sacrifices are.”
Several Palestinian armed groups had called for revenge since an Israeli army raid on Tuesday, also in the northern West Bank, killed six Palestinians. On Wednesday, UN Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland urged Israel and the Palestinians to end the violence without delay. “We are in the middle of a cycle of violence that must be stopped immediately,” he said in a statement.
The Sunday shoot-out took place a short distance from an Israeli settlement, with the head of the regional Samaria settler council appreciating the army for “taking out the terrorist squad operating in the area.”
“We will continue to live and build in Samaria and the entire region,” Yossi Dagan said in a statement, using the Jewish biblical name for the northern West Bank. Netanyahu’s government has vowed to continue the expansion of West Bank settlements, which are illegal under international law. On Thursday, Hamas’s armed wing member opened fire outside a Tel Aviv cafe, injuring three men in their 30s before being shot dead. Hours before, three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli military operation in the northern West Bank.
The Tel Aviv cafe attack came just hours after Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin had urged for de-escalation ahead of the holy of Ramadan that starts in last week of March and the Jewish holiday of Passover in April. Following talks with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant during a brief visit to Israel, Austin also called on the “Palestinian leadership to combat terrorism and to reactivate security cooperation and to condemn incitement.”
Since the start of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of around 81 Palestinian adults and children. Thirteen Israelis, including three children and one policeman, and one Ukrainian civilian have been killed during the same period.
