Israeli West Bank crackdown expands after deadly Nablus-area shootout
Israeli raids and settler attacks spread across the occupied West Bank after a shootout killed four Palestinians and two soldiers.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
The Israeli West Bank crackdown widened on Sunday after a deadly confrontation near Nablus, with raids, arrests and road restrictions reported across the occupied territory. Al Jazeera and Reuters reported that the operation followed a Friday shootout in the village of Tal that killed four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered what Israeli authorities described as a broad military operation after the soldiers’ deaths, according to Al Jazeera. The escalation has unfolded alongside attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages, including attempted arson at two mosques, local officials said.
What triggered the West Bank crackdown?
The confrontation began Friday in Tal, southwest of Nablus, where Palestinians and Israelis give conflicting accounts of what led to the violence. Al Jazeera said verified video supported villagers’ accounts that about 20 Israeli settlers, many carrying rifles, approached the village before residents came out to confront them.
Israeli soldiers arrived as tensions rose, and a gunfight broke out after one villager took a gun from a settler, according to Al Jazeera’s account. The deaths prompted Israeli military raids in Tal and other areas of the West Bank.
Lieutenant Colonel Ella Waweya, an Israeli army spokesperson, said Sunday that troops were searching homes in Tal linked to Palestinians suspected of involvement in Friday’s events. She said the raids were a step before temporary sealing and possible demolition of the homes.
Israel demolishes the homes of some Palestinians accused of deadly attacks. Rights groups cited by Al Jazeera say the practice amounts to collective punishment and breaches international law.
Raids, arrests and settler attacks reported
The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported arrests in several West Bank locations, including 30 people in Tal, 14 in Ramallah, five in Jenin, eight in Hebron, three in Bethlehem and six in Tulkarem. Wafa also said Israeli forces carried out a large raid in Jenin and in surrounding towns and villages, including Zababdeh, Yabad, Burqin, Qabatiya and al-Yamoun.
Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported strict traffic limits and many checkpoints on main roads and at village entrances across the occupied West Bank. Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh reported from Ramallah that Israeli forces carried out overnight raids and were seen in Rafidia and Huwara in the Nablus area.
Odeh said video from witnesses showed Israeli forces assaulting a paramedic and a man in Huwara. She also said the Palestine Red Crescent Society reported an assault on one of its paramedics in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron.
In Qusra, southeast of Nablus, settlers tried to burn the newly built Al-Rahma Mosque and spray-painted slogans including “Jewish revenge” on its walls, village council head Abdel Azim Wadi said. Al Jazeera said it verified videos showing flames inside the mosque.
Farid Jiyousi, a member of the village council in Kour, south of Tulkarem, said three settlers tried to set another mosque on fire at dawn. Worshippers extinguished the flames before they reached the main prayer area, he said.
Political pressure rises in Israel
The violence comes three months before Israel’s general election. Al Jazeera reported that opinion polls indicate Netanyahu could lose power, while settlement expansion and land seizures appeal to his right-wing base.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said Israel plans to build 763 new units in the Eli settlement south of Nablus, according to Al Jazeera. The United Nations and rights groups have criticised Israel over accountability for settler violence, saying prosecutions of settlers are rare and convictions of soldiers are uncommon.
Hundreds of people demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday against settler violence and the military operation in the West Bank. Israeli police said they arrested nine protesters, accusing them of holding an unauthorised demonstration and blocking a road.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.