Israeli and Palestinian sources said that 4 Palestinians were killed, and 9 others were wounded by the Israeli army’s bullets during its storming of Palestinian villages in the areas of Jenin and Ramallah in the north and center of the West Bank.
The Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the Israeli army killed at least four Palestinians , last night (Saturday-Sunday) during a campaign of arrests carried out in the cities of Jenin and Ramallah (central and northern West Bank).
The newspaper quoted an Israeli army spokesman as saying that “an exchange of fire occurred in several incidents in the West Bank, during a large-scale operation of the army forces against the (Islamic resistance) movement Hamas.”
The newspaper added, quoting the military spokesman, “The talk is about a large-scale arrest operation related to the infrastructure of Hamas, which the (Israeli) security forces have been following for several days.”
The spokesman added that the arrest campaign was carried out in three areas in the West Bank.
The Israeli army spokesman commented on the exchange of fire, saying, “There is a possibility that the issue of firing rockets (from the Gaza Strip) will develop,” according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
For its part, the official “Kan” channel said that 3 Palestinians were killed in the Bedouin village northwest of Jerusalem in an exchange of fire with the Israeli “Yamam” special force, which was besieging a house they were holed up inside.
She pointed out that “an Israeli force from the Dovdivan unit (a special undercover unit) killed the fourth Palestinian in the town of Bruqin, near Jenin, after an exchange of fire.”
“The Israeli security forces are holding a number of the bodies of the dead Palestinians,” she added, without further details.
According to the channel, the Israeli forces arrested 3 other Palestinians during the operation in Jenin and Ramallah, one of whom was wounded, without clarifying the severity of his injury.
The channel quoted an unnamed security source as saying that the arrest was carried out based on information that the “cell” was planning to launch an attack on Israeli targets in the near future.
For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that “the security forces moved tonight in the West Bank against Hamas members who were about to carry out attacks in the near term.”
“The soldiers and commanders in the field behaved as expected of them, and we fully support them,” Bennett, who went to New York last night to attend the United Nations General Assembly, added, according to a statement from his office posted on his Twitter account.
For its part, the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed, in two separate statements, the death of 4 Palestinians.
In a brief statement, a copy of which was received by The Eastern Herald, the Ministry of Health said: “The Palestinian civil liaison (the official contact point with Israel) informs the Ministry of Health of the death of 3 citizens in the town of Bedouin, north of Jerusalem.”
The local media network, “G Media”, broadcast pictures of traces of blood near a cave in agricultural land in the “Al-Qubaiba” area near the village of “Bado”, after the Israeli army withdrew from the area.
Activists also circulated pictures of Israeli soldiers transporting a person on a stretcher, without his fate being clear.
In a previous statement, the Ministry of Health confirmed: “The martyrdom of a citizen who was wounded by live bullets, arrived at Ibn Sina Hospital in a critical condition from Bruqin (southwest of Jenin).”
For its part, a Palestinian (official) Voice Radio said that a Palestinian was martyred, and his body is being held by Israeli army during the Burqin confrontations, which raises the number of martyrs to five, without any other source confirming the news.
The governor of Jenin, Akram Rajoub, told the official radio that 9 Palestinians were wounded this morning by the Israeli army’s bullets in Jenin, adding that 8 of them were transferred to Palestinian hospitals and the ninth was detained by the Israeli army.
The Israeli army stormed the town of Burqin at dawn on Sunday; Local media said that clashes erupted between the residents of the village and those forces.
Journalist Ali Samoudi told The Eastern Herald that Israeli special forces, disguised as cars bearing Palestinian registration plates, arrested two young men from Jenin last night.
