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NABLUS (West Bank), Oct. 25 (AP) Israeli forces attacked an armed group stronghold in the occupied West Bank’s second-largest city, blowing up an explosives experiment, the military said Tuesday. room and exchanged fire. Five Palestinians were killed and 20 injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The overnight raid on the old town or castle of Nablus, one of the deadliest attacks in the West Bank in 2022, comes as the conflict escalates.
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The raid targeted a group of Palestinian gunmen who called themselves a lion’s den. The military said the group was responsible for the recent deadly shooting of an Israeli soldier and several attempted attacks.
The health ministry said the five men killed in the raid were in their 20s and 30s. One of the victims, Wadie Houh, was reported to be the leader of the group. The ministry said several of the injured were in serious condition.
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The ongoing Israeli arrest raids in the West Bank pose a serious challenge to the Palestinian self-government, which administers just over a third of the territory.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has relied on security cooperation with Israel, especially against his radical Islamist opponents, to stay in power. At the same time, this cooperation is highly unpopular among Palestinians, who oppose Israel’s unrestricted occupation, now in its 56th year.
Young Palestinians are especially disappointed. Small gangs of gunmen have formed in some areas, first in the Jenin refugee camp, a stronghold of militants, and now in Nablus. These groups challenge the Palestinian Authority and launch attacks on Israeli targets.
During Tuesday’s raid, Israeli forces blew up an explosives laboratory in an apartment in Nablus, the military said. Some militants were targeted, the statement said, noting Palestinians were reporting casualties. From the wording of the statement, it was unclear whether some of the dead and wounded were hit in the initial ambush rather than the ensuing exchange of fire.
Abbas’ spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, released a statement in which he described the ongoing Israeli attack as a war crime.
More than 125 Palestinians have been killed in Palestinian-Israeli fighting in the West Bank and East Jerusalem this year. The fighting has escalated since a series of Palestinian attacks in Israel in the spring killed 19 people. The Israeli army said most of the Palestinians killed were militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting the invasion and others not involved in the confrontation were also killed.
Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war and built more than 130 settlements there, many resembling small towns, with apartment buildings, shopping malls and industrial areas. Palestinians want the West Bank to be a major part of their future state. Most countries consider the settlements to violate international law. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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