The Jenin brigade, a loosely organized armed group based mostly within the refugee camp, mentioned its militants had been taking pictures and throwing explosive gadgets at Israeli troopers who had surrounded a home within the refugee camp. The Palestinian Well being Ministry mentioned 26-year-old Mohammed Ghazawi was killed and a minimum of 5 others had been wounded.
Tuesday’s raid was the newest in a string of lethal arrest operations by the Israeli navy within the northern West Financial institution. Final month, a uncommon daytime navy raid within the Outdated Metropolis of Nablus focusing on a not too long ago shaped militant group often called the Lion’s Den sparked an hourslong gunfight and left 10 Palestinians lifeless.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israel’s far-right nationwide safety minister joined Jewish revelers within the occupied West Financial institution metropolis of Hebron, dancing with residents from the hard-line settler group as they celebrated the vacation of Purim.
Itamar Ben-Gvir — wearing a dressing up combining components of varied uniforms of forces below his command — danced, sang, and took selfies with party-goers and troopers at an occasion in an Israeli settlement in Hebron. Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist politician in Benjamin Netanyahu’s new authorities, lives in an adjoining settlement.
It was the newest present of pressure by ultranationalist settlers within the occupied West Financial institution, who’ve been bolstered by Ben-Gvir and different allies within the new Israeli authorities. In a single day, settlers injured a Palestinian man in the identical Palestinian city the place a settler mob burned vehicles and homes final week.
Hebron is a contested metropolis that’s dwelling to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a web site thought-about holy to Muslims, Christians and Jews. A whole bunch of hard-line settlers reside in fortified enclaves below navy safety within the coronary heart of a metropolis of greater than 200,000 Palestinians.
Tuesday’s celebration got here below heavy safety and handed from a settlement to the Israeli-controlled downtown space, the place Palestinians have been evicted or compelled to shut outlets over time.
Ben-Gvir, who leads a small ultranationalist faction in Netanyahu’s authorities, has been a widely known face in Hebron for a few years. Earlier than coming into workplace, he was arrested dozens of instances and was as soon as convicted of incitement and supporting a Jewish terrorist group.
Till not too long ago, he hung a photograph in his front room of Baruch Goldstein, a radical Jewish settler who in 1994 killed 29 Palestinians throughout prayers within the tomb, recognized to Muslims because the Ibrahimi Mosque. The taking pictures occurred on Purim that 12 months.
Ben-Gvir, surrounded by bodyguards on Tuesday, is now a outstanding determine in Israel’s authorities, which incorporates main members of the settler motion. He held a baby and shook arms with the group as he defined the importance of his costume. “We love all of you, members of the safety forces,” he mentioned.
The celebrations got here at a time of heightened tensions between Israelis and Palestinians throughout the West Financial institution.
In contemporary violence, Jewish settlers evenly wounded a Palestinian man in a flashpoint city Monday that was torched in a settler rampage final week, medics mentioned.
On Feb. 26, a Palestinian gunman killed two Israeli brothers within the city of Hawara within the northern West Financial institution, and in response, a mob of Israeli settlers set buildings and vehicles on hearth.
There have been conflicting accounts about what sparked Monday’s violence.
Initially, Palestinian officers mentioned, a bunch of settlers got here to the primary Hawara thoroughfare in a van, blasting music in what they described as a “provocation.” Monday night marked the start of Purim, which is usually celebrated with costumes and revelry.
Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official who screens Israeli settlements within the northern West Financial institution, mentioned a number of Israeli settlers attacked a grocery store. Paramedics mentioned that one man was handled for a head damage.
Safety digital camera footage from close to the store appeared to indicate Israeli settlers throwing rocks at it, and Palestinians hurling stones again. Exterior, Israeli males wearing black are seen hurling stones and pounding the home windows of a automobile with occupants inside.
Native Palestinian residents protested close by, shouting “God is nice,” in Arabic. Israeli media mentioned Palestinians additionally threw rocks at Israeli vehicles passing by Hawara, damaging 4 automobiles.
The Israeli navy mentioned there have been “a number of violent confrontations” on Monday night time, and that troopers dispersed the crowds.
Novice video footage appeared to indicate Israeli settlers dancing with troopers on the primary Hawara street, alongside a van with the phrases “Blissful Purim” emblazoned on the facet. The military mentioned the troopers’ conduct was “not aligned with the habits anticipated” and that the incident was below overview.
Greater than 60 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli hearth this 12 months, about half of them militants, in accordance with a tally by The Related Press. Palestinian assaults in opposition to Israelis have killed 14 Israelis, all however considered one of them civilians, throughout that very same time. It has been one of many deadliest durations between Israelis and Palestinians within the West Financial institution and east Jerusalem in years.
Israel captured the West Financial institution, together with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, within the 1967 Mideast conflict, territories the Palestinians search for his or her future state. Within the many years since, greater than 500,000 Jewish settlers have moved into dozens of settlements, which the worldwide group considers unlawful and an impediment to peace.