Three Palestinian fighters were killed before dawn on Sunday in an exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers near Nablus, in the northern West Bank, where violence has increased since the inauguration at the end of December of the most right-wing government in Israel’s history.
The three victims are aged 18, 22 and 24, according to the Palestinian health ministry. They were members of the Den of Lions, the armed group that emerged in 2022 in Nablus said. The versions of the Israeli army and the Fosse aux Lions agree on the fact that a group of Palestinian fighters attacked soldiers in area B, under Israeli control, at the Surra-Jit checkpoint, west of Nablus, stronghold of Palestinian armed groups. This military post controls access to the Jewish colony of Kdumim.
The Israeli army reported that a fourth man had surrendered and been arrested for questioning. No Israeli soldier was injured, she adds, specifying, with supporting photos, that the attackers were in possession of three M16 machine guns with several magazines and a pistol.
Hamas promises a ‘great intifada’
Yossi Dagan, an administrative official for Jewish settlements in this area, praised the military for “eliminating a terrorist group.” “We will continue to live and build here in Samaria and throughout the region. the murdering Palestinian Authority will not discourage us,” he added.
For Islamic Jihad, this new tragedy shows that the State of Israel has declared “all-out war” on the Palestinians. “The resistance of our people remains unshakable (…) whatever the sacrifices”, adds the movement in a press release. “This blood will be a curse for the occupiers and will fuel a great intifada in the West Bank,” promises Hamas.
Since the beginning of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 81 Palestinians and an Israeli policeman, as well as a Ukrainian, according to a report established by Agence France-Presse.
On Friday, a 16-year-old Palestinian who threw a Molotov cocktail and another in his twenties armed with knives and explosive devices, according to the army, were killed in the West Bank, the first by soldiers, the second by a Jewish settler. The day before, on the first evening of the Israeli weekend, a member of the armed wing of Hamas infiltrated into Israeli territory had opened fire on a cafe in the center of Tel Aviv, injuring three people.
Repeated calls from the UN and many foreign chancelleries for a return to calm before the start, at the end of March, of Ramadan, during which Passover falls this year, have for the moment remained a dead letter.
