5 Palestinians said killed in Nablus amid clashes between gunmen, Israeli forces

Heavy gun battles between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen were reported Wednesday in Nablus after the military said troops were operating in the northern West Bank city.

The Palestinian Authority’s health ministry said five Palestinians were killed and 45 hurt in the clashes, including five seriously. The ministry did not specify the involvement of those killed and wounded or identify them.

There was no immediate statement from the Israel Defense Forces, which announced the operation earlier without giving further details.

Citing Palestinian reports, Hebrew media said the soldiers surrounded a home where two suspects, members of terror groups, were holed up, demanding they turn themselves in.

The suspects, however, refused to do so, leading the Israeli forces to fire a missile at the building.

Reports named the two as Husam Isleem, who is linked to Lion’s Den, and Muhammed al-Junaidi, Islamic Jihad’s military commander in Nablus, both of whom were reportedly killed.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, the two were part of a cell that killed Staff Sgt. Ido Baruch during a shooting attack in October.

تغطية صحفية: “الطواقم الطبية تواصل نقل المصابين برصاص الاحتلال في نابلس”. pic.twitter.com/mkifd2mCTV

— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) February 22, 2023

For the past year, the IDF has been conducting near-nightly raids in the West Bank amid a series of Palestinian terror attacks that killed 31 people in 2022, and another 11 since the beginning of the year.

The IDF’s year-long operation has netted more than 2,500 arrests in near-nightly raids. 171 Palestinians were killed in 2022, and another 49 have been killed since the beginning of the year, most of them while carrying out attacks or during clashes with security forces, but some were uninvolved civilians and others under circumstances that are being investigated.