Bethlehem and Jerusalem
cnn
—
At least six Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military on Tuesday, making it the deadliest day of violence in the occupied West Bank this year, CNN analysis of official Palestinian data showed.
Five people were killed in the ancient city of Nablus during an Israeli raid there, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. A sixth person was killed in Nabi Saleh, north of Ramallah, by live Israeli fire, the ministry added, as Palestinian protesters took to the streets in response to the Nablus military operation.
The raid in Nablus also left about 20 people injured, the ministry said.
Israel said it was attacking Lion's Den, a new militant group that emerged in Nablus this year and has attacked Israeli soldiers, killing at least two.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Tuesday's killings as a “war crime” and called on the United States to stop Israeli “aggression” in the West Bank before things “come to a very critical point,” according to his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh.
Commenting on the Nablus raid, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said: “our goal was and remains to inflict serious and lasting damage on terrorism and its agents in Jenin and Nablus and anywhere else where terrorist nests grow.” . He added that the head of the Lion's Den militant group and other militants were killed in the attack and that “the Lion's Den terrorist laboratory was severely damaged.”
In a joint statement posted on Twitter, the Israel Defense Forces, Israel Security Agency and Israeli police said a raid was carried out on a hideout in the ancient city of Nablus that was being used as a headquarters and place where explosives were manufactured by León agents. Den, adding that the group was responsible for a shooting attack that killed an Israeli soldier, and attempting to carry out an attack in Tel Aviv that was thwarted by Israeli police, as well as placing an explosive device at a gas station.
Israeli security forces “detonated the explosives manufacturing site” during the attack, the statement said, adding that “dozens of Palestinians burned tires and threw stones at troops.” He [Israeli] “Troops responded with live fire toward the armed suspects who were shooting at them.”
The Palestinian National Forces, an umbrella group of political and popular groups, announced on Tuesday a general strike in cities and towns in the West Bank. The strike will affect essential services such as schools, universities and courts.
This year has been the deadliest in the West Bank for Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers since 2015. Israel says most of the deaths occurred in violent clashes with soldiers.
It has also been the deadliest year for Israelis and foreigners killed in Palestinian attacks since 2015.
