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WORLD NEWS Thursday 23 February 2023

10 Palestinians killed, scores hurt in Israel West

Bank raid

By AREF TUFAHA and
JOSEF FEDERMAN
Associated Press
NABLUS, West Bank (AP) —
Israeli troops on Wednes-
day entered a major Pales-
tinian city in the occupied
West Bank in a rare, day-
time arrest operation, trig-
gering fighting that killed
at least 10 Palestinians and
wounded scores of others.
The raid, which reduced a
building to rubble and left
a series of shops riddled
with bullets, was one of the
bloodiest battles in nearly a
year of fighting in the West
Bank and east Jerusalem.
Two men, ages 72 and 61,
were among the dead,
and 102 people were
wounded, Palestinian offi-
cials said. A Palestinian gestures to Israeli military vehicles during clashes in the West Bank city of Nablus,
The Israeli operation, cou- Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023. Associated Press
pled with the high death
toll, raised the prospect ous shooting attacks in the released a video taken 61, were also killed. There
of further bloodshed. A West Bank, including the from inside an armored was no immediate word
similar raid last month was killing of an Israeli soldier vehicle as crowds of Pal- on whether the others be-
followed by a deadly Pal- last fall. estinian youths pelt it with longed to armed groups.
estinian attack outside a The military usually con- stones. There were no Israeli Last month, Israeli troops
Jerusalem synagogue, and ducts raids at night in what casualties. killed 10 people in a similar
the Hamas militant group it says is a tactic meant to Time-stamped security foot- raid in the northern West
warned that “its patience is reduce the risk of civilian age widely shared online Bank. The following day, a
running out.” casualties. It said it took ad- appeared to show two un- lone Palestinian gunman
In a move that could further vantage of a rare window armed young men running opened fire near a syna-
raise tensions, Israel’s West of opportunity after intel- down a street. Gunshots gogue in an east Jerusa-
Bank settler organization ligence services tracked are heard, and both fall lem settlement, killing sev-
said that Israeli officials had down the men in a hideout to the ground, with one’s en people.
approved construction of and warned they posed an hat flying off his head. Both Days later, five Palestinian
nearly 2,000 new homes in imminent threat. bodies remained still. militants were killed in an Is-
West Bank settlements. The The army said it surround- Hecht called the video raeli arrest raid elsewhere in
Israeli government did not ed the building and asked “problematic,” and said the West Bank.
immediately confirm the the men to surrender, but the military was looking into That was followed by a Pal-
decision, which came just instead they opened fire. it. estinian car ramming that
two days after the U.N. Se- When one of the militants In the Old City of Nab- killed three Israelis, includ-
curity Council approved a tried to flee the building, lus, people stared at the ing two young brothers, in
watered-down statement he was shot and killed, said rubble that had been the Jerusalem.
opposing settlement con- Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, a large home in the centu- The fighting comes at a
struction. U.N. Secretary- military spokesman. The ries-old marketplace. From sensitive time, less than two
General Antonio Guterres military then fired missiles at one end to the other, shops months after Israeli Prime
warned Wednesday that the house, he added, leav- were riddled with bullets. Minister Benjamin Netan-
the situation in the occu- ing it in ruins and killing the Parked cars were crushed. yahu’s new hard-line gov-
pied Palestinian territory “is other two men. Blood stained the cement ernment took office. The
at its most combustible in A recently formed armed ruins. Furniture from the government is dominated
years,” calling Israel’s op- group based in the Old City destroyed home was scat- by ultranationalists who
eration in Nablus that left of Nablus called the Lion’s tered among mounds of have pushed for tougher
10 Palestinians dead and Den, which has surged in debris. action against Palestinian
over 80 injured “deeply prominence over the past The Palestinian Health Min- militants. Israeli media have
concerning.” He urged months, confirmed the mili- istry said 102 people were quoted top security offi-
stepped-up efforts to pre- tants were its members. wounded, and six of them cials as expressing concern
vent the further escalation During the raid, the military were in critical condition. that this could lead to even
of violence, reduce ten- said armed men in the city Various Palestinian militant more violence. Israeli po-
sions and restore calm. “shot heavily toward the groups claimed six of the lice announced they were
The Israeli military said it en- forces,” which responded dead including the three beefing up forces and go-
tered Nablus on Wednes- with live fire. It said others from Lion’s Den targeted ing on heightened alert
day to arrest three wanted hurled rocks and explosives in the raid as members. in the West Bank and east
militants suspected in previ- at the troops. The military But two men, ages 72 and Jerusalem.q