RAMALLAH, Jan. 23 – Two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli military operation in Burqin, a town west of Jenin city in the northern West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Thursday.
The ministry identified the victims as 30-year-old Qutaiba Shalabi and 25-year-old Mohammed Nazzal.
Palestinian sources in Jenin said that Israeli forces surrounded a house in Burqin on Wednesday night, using loudspeakers to demand those inside surrender.
The forces fired several portable rockets at the house before demolishing it with a bulldozer, the sources added.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said in a press statement that, during its operation together with the Shin Bet security agency, its forces killed two “members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement” who were involved in an attack on Jan. 6 in the village of Al Funduq, east of the West Bank city of Qalqilya, “which killed three Israelis and wounded six others.”
The Israeli forces also arrested several individuals allegedly linked to the attack, it said, adding that an Israeli soldier sustained moderate injuries during the operation and was taken to hospital for treatment.
For the third consecutive day, the Israeli army has been conducting a large-scale military operation dubbed “Iron Wall” in Jenin and its surrounding refugee camp.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that the operation aims to “eradicate terrorism” in Jenin and claimed Iran is behind anti-Israeli militant activity in the city.
The operation comes as Israel halted its fighting in Gaza on Sunday, as the truce agreement took effect. Still, the violence escalated in the West Bank with the raid in Jenin and a series of settler attacks on Palestinian villages.
XINHUA