The occupied West Bank is once again in mourning. Six Palestinians were killed and nearly 20 others injured early Tuesday in raids by Israeli forces, mainly in the city of Nablus.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health initially reported “three dead and 19 injured, three seriously” in Nablus. Later he added that a fourth Palestinian had also been killed by Israeli fire in Nablus and that two others had been killed in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas in the center of the West Bank, and in the Nabi Saleh village.
An operation against “The lion’s den”
The Israeli army, on the other hand, did not comment on this assessment but confirmed that it had carried out a vast operation with the police against the “headquarters and a workshop for making weapons”, of the new group of Palestinian fighters nicknamed “The pit of lions” in the old town of Nablus. During this operation, “several armed suspects were shot,” the army said.
On Tuesday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid told Israeli public radio Kan that one of the leaders of “The Lions’ Den”, Wadih Al Houh, had been killed. “They need to know that we will reach them wherever they are, Israel will never stop acting for their security and we will do what needs to be done, the goal is to reduce terrorism and ensure that it does not affect Israeli citizens. »
Palestinian Islamic Jihad threatens retaliation
In recent weeks, a group of young Palestinian fighters, some affiliated with known groups like Fatah, Hamas or Islamic Jihad and some not, have begun carrying out anti-Israeli operations from Nablus. The new group baptized in Arabic “Areen al-Oussoud”, the “den of lions” in French, in tribute to Ibrahim al-Nabulsi, a young fighter nicknamed the “Lion of Nablus” and killed in early August by Israeli forces, had notably claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on an Israeli soldier two weeks ago in the occupied West Bank.
On Tuesday, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad said its “fighters were involved in violent clashes” with Israeli forces in Nablus and threatened Israel with reprisals “for these crimes” there. In the process, the Israeli army tightened the noose on the city, setting up checks to identify people who left it and constantly monitoring its skies with observation drones.