Three Palestinians who were preparing to carry out an attack were killed on Sunday by Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank, according to the army, the police and the Shin Beth, the Israeli internal security service. “A terrorist cell from the Jenin refugee camp has been identified in a car on its way to carry out an attack,” they said in a joint statement, adding that the cell leader and two other members were killed by the forces. security in the vicinity of Jenin in the northern West Bank.
The army identified the cell leader as Nayef Abou Zweit, 26, described as a “military activist” in the Jenin refugee camp, per the statement. He had been involved in the past in “armed operations against our security forces following the directives of terrorists in the Gaza Strip”, the statement said.
The Israeli army regularly carries out raids in the northern West Bank, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups. This region has seen a recent wave of attacks against Israelis, as well as anti-Palestinian violence by Jewish settlers. The Jenin refugee camp has notably become the symbol of the Palestinian struggle against Israel, which considers it “a hub of terrorism”.
The Islamist movement Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip, described Sunday’s death of the three Palestinians as a “crime”, saying that Israel “will pay the price”. The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed the death of three Palestinians by “occupation bullets near the town of Arraba”, in the Jenin region. For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed “the security forces for eliminating the terrorist cell that was going to commit an attack against Israeli citizens”.
211 Palestinians killed since the beginning of the year
On Friday, a Palestinian was killed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank village of Burqa. Two suspects have been arrested by Israeli police in connection with the case as authorities say they are continuing to investigate the incident. On Saturday, an Israeli was killed in Tel Aviv by a Palestinian, from the Jenin area according to the Shin Beth, who was shot dead.
The Israeli army had reported “violent clashes between Israeli civilians and Palestinians” in Burqa on Friday. “During the clashes, Israeli civilians fired on the Palestinians, killing one Palestinian and wounding four others,” the army said. Nearly three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967. About 490,000 Jewish settlers also live there in settlements considered by the UN to be illegal under international law.
At least 211 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of this year in violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as 28 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian, according to an AFP count compiled from official sources.