Israeli security forces attacked the flashpoint city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank early on Tuesday, according to Palestinian authorities, and five Palestinians were killed immediately and another later.
As store owners worked to remove the wreckage in the wake of the operation, which the Israeli military claimed was intended to target an explosives manufacturing facility of the militant group “Den of Lions,” shards of glass and scrap metal blanketed the cobblestone streets of the Old City of Nablus.
At least 20 individuals, including several gunmen and members of the Palestinian security forces, were injured in Nablus, which has recently been the scene of violent clashes, according to Palestinian health officials.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, declared that Israel “must immediately cease its atrocities,” adding that Abbas’s administration has asked the United States to “intervene to stop the aggression and end the occupation.”
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The killings in Nablus, according to Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, “will only stoke the revolution in the West Bank.”
More than 100 West Bank-based Palestinians have died this year, the majority since late March as a result of a crackdown that came after a series of deadly street attacks by Palestinians in Israel that left 19 people dead.
Dozens of Palestinians threw rocks and burnt tyres at the troops throughout the operation. The armed suspects were being fired upon by the troops, who retaliated with live fire, according to a statement from the military.
Two of the victims were revealed to be members of the “Den of Lions,” a loosely affiliated organisation of Nablus gunmen that has risen over the past year and has been involved in numerous battles with Israeli soldiers.
In a separate altercation close to the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh near Ramallah, a sixth man was slain.
An Israeli military officer reported that four members of Israel’s security personnel have died since that time, at least one of them was allegedly killed by the Den of Lions.
Tamer Kilani, a senior member of the Den of Lions, was murdered overnight on Sunday in what the Palestinians characterised as an Israeli bombing mission. In response to the tragedy, the terrorist organisation pledged to exact revenge.
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