Palestinian officials claim that the Israeli army shot live ammunition, killing at least three Palestinian militants and injuring four more during a raid in Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank.
According to Aljazeera, the three individuals murdered on Thursday have been named as Hassan Qatnani, Moaz al-Masri, and Ibrahim Jabr by Hamas, the Palestinian organization in charge of the beleaguered Gaza Strip. They were allegedly members of Hamas’ armed wing.
In a press release, Hamas took credit for the bombing that claimed the lives of Rina and Maia Dee, as well as their mother Lucy, who lived in the illegal Israeli settlement of Efrat south of Jerusalem. Over 500,000 Israelis reside in 200 settlements constructed on Palestinian land which is prohibited by international law.
Hamas described the killings of its three members as an “assassination” of the “heroes of resistance in the city of Nablus”.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said four people were transferred to hospital for treatment and at least 150 people suffered tear gas inhalation, including schoolchildren.
The raid came after an earlier in the week cross-border strike exchange between Israel and Gaza and more than a year of escalating violence, which included multiple Israeli incursions in the West Bank as well as a number of Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu said that any attack on Israelis will be retaliated against, “It doesn’t matter where you try to hide, we will find you.”
Locals in Nablus reported to Al Jazeera that several Israeli forces, including covert units, attacked the Old City as locals were beginning their days.
According to them, the Israelis surrounded a house and engaged the Palestinian combatants there in gunfire.
At least 19 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian have been killed over the same period, according to an AFP tally.
Khader Adnan, a 44-year-old prisoner who had been on a hunger strike for 87 days in protest of his continuous arbitrary incarceration, has been added to the list of Palestinian fatalities.
The killing of Adnan, who was detained on March 5 and was awaiting a military trial, sparked widespread outrage and demonstrations in the West Bank and prompted armed resistance organizations in the Gaza Strip to launch rocket assaults against Israel.
Hashel Mubarak, a 58-year-old Palestinian, was murdered and five others were hurt in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night.
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