Israel operation in West Bank leaves 3 dead after days of Gaza attack

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After the recent escalation of attacks on the Gaza Strip over the past weekend, an Israeli army operation in the West Bank city of Nablus left at least three Palestinians dead and dozens injured on Tuesday morning.

According to Israeli forces, one of the dead was Ibrahim al Nabulsi, commander of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a network of militias linked to the Fatah faction, which controls the West Bank, the army said.

Israeli troops said Nabulsi’s house was surrounded and that after he refused to surrender alongside other militants, fire was exchanged and missiles were fired when the militant died. Another member of the brigade would also have died.

Hundreds of people gathered in front of the hospital in Nablus where gunmen took Nabulsi. After the leader’s death, the Martyrs Brigade said that “the response will be proportionate to the crime”.

There was also an exchange of fire between Palestinians and Israeli forces in other parts of the West Bank. The Red Crescent said its doctors had treated at least 69 people wounded by bullets in the Nablus area, four of whom were in critical condition. Israel, for its part, said its forces suffered no casualties.

In addition to Nabulsi, the Palestinian Health Ministry identified the other two dead as Islam Sabbuh and Husein Taha. The last one, relatives told the AFP news agency, was a 16-year-old boy. The young man’s father, Jamal, said his son died as the two walked to work in the morning.

Over the past few months, Israeli forces have carried out almost daily operations in the West Bank, focused on combating the radical Islamic Jihad group. Since March this year, at least 57 Palestinians have died, most of them in occupied areas.

In one of the cases that gained national attention, one of the victims was Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed in the city of Jenin in May while reporting on the conflict.

Independent UN and US investigations showed that the shot that killed the reporter likely came from Israeli agents — although Washington, in a critical analysis, said the shot was not intended to kill.

Last Friday (5), the country began a series of air strikes on the Gaza Strip, claiming that it was carrying out a preventive operation against terrorism promoted by Jihad. The conflict left at least 43 Palestinians dead and lasted until Sunday night (7), when a temporary ceasefire brokered by Egypt began.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid spoke by phone with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday, when he reportedly praised Cairo for its role in “preserving regional stability and security.”

The prime minister also said the series of bombings in Gaza had dealt a “devastating blow to the enemy” and that “the entire top echelon of Islamic Jihad in Gaza had been successfully attacked” – the operations left Tayseer Jabari, leader of the group since 2019, dead, as is Khaled Mansour of the military high command.

After the recent actions in Nablus, a spokesman for Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), said Israel “is not interested in calm and stability”.

“Israel exploits and kills Palestinians to gain domestic political benefits,” he said, referring to the November 1 general election after the ruling coalition broke up.

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