Bethlehem and Jerusalem
CNN
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At least six Palestinians were executed by Israeli forces on Tuesday, making it the deadliest day of violence in the occupied West Bank this year, a CNN analysis of official Palestinian data showed.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, five were killed during an Israeli raid in the Old City of Nablus. A sixth person was killed in Nabi Saleh, north of Ramallah, by Israeli live fire when Palestinian protesters took to the streets in response to the Nablus military operation, the ministry said.
The ministry said about 20 people were also injured in the raid in Nablus.
Israel said it was targeting the Lion’s Den, a new militant group that emerged in Nablus this year and has targeted Israeli soldiers, killing at least two.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Tuesday’s killings as a “war crime” while calling on the United States to stop Israel’s “aggression” into the West Bank before it “reaches a very critical point”. , according to his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudineh.
Commenting on the Nablus raid, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said, “Our goal was to cause serious and lasting damage to terrorism and its agents in Jenin and Nablus and anywhere where terrorists nest.” He said the head of the Lion’s Den terrorist group and other militants were killed in the raid and “the Lion’s Den terrorist laboratory was severely damaged.”
In a joint statement posted on Twitter, the Israel Defense Forces, the Israel Security Agency, and the Israeli police said the raid was carried out on a hideout in Nablus’ old city that was used by Lion operatives as a headquarters and explosives manufacturing site. was being done in Den, stating that the group was responsible for a shooting attack that killed an Israeli soldier, and for an attempt to carry out an attack in Tel Aviv that was foiled by Israeli police as well as at a gas station Explosive device was planted.
The statement said Israeli security forces “detonated explosives at the construction site” during the raid, adding that “dozens of Palestinians burned tires and threw stones at the soldiers. [Israeli] Troops responded with live fire towards the armed suspects who were firing at them.
Palestinian national forces, an umbrella group of political and popular groups, announced a general strike in towns and villages in the West Bank on Tuesday. The strike will affect essential services like schools, universities and courts.
This year has been the deadliest in the West Bank for Palestinians killed by Israeli troops since 2015. Israel claims that most of the killed were violent clashes with soldiers.
It has also been the deadliest year for Israelis and foreigners killed in attacks by Palestinians since 2015.