Attacks, incursions and armed confrontations mark the beginning of 2023, which could become the year with the greatest explosion of violence between Palestinians and Israelis in recent times, according to the forecast shared by many on both sides.
This Wednesday afternoon, Palestinian factions vowed revenge for the death of 10 Palestinians by Israeli fire in a new military incursion that, as usual, led to an intense and prolonged armed clash with militants in the northern West Bank. The target of the raid in the old town of Nablus were three members of the Lions' Den (a militia created a few months ago) and Islamic Jihad. According to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Health Ministry and Palestinian groups, most of the dead are Islamic Jihad and Lions Den militants but also civilians such as a 72-year-old man. Likewise, the number of wounded reached one hundred.
After 10 in the morning, agents of the Police's anti-terrorism unit (YAMAM) and soldiers entered the old area of Nablus and surrounded a house after receiving a tip about the presence of three armed Palestinians who carried out attacks such as the who killed Sergeant Ido Baruch at a crossroads near a settlement in the West Bank four months ago.
The three Palestinian militiamen refused to leave the hideout and surrender as the soldiers demanded while Hamas, Al Fatah and Islamic Jihad asked their own to go armed to the area and confront the Israeli force. Inside the building, Husam Isleem announced his willingness to become a "martyr." "We are under siege. There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger," he wrote on Facebook, alluding to possible Palestinian collaborators: "Allah will not forgive whom he sold us out." Subsequently, he recorded a "farewell" message asking the Palestinians to continue their path of arms. One of the entrenched Palestinians was killed after shooting out and the others died from the impact on the house of the missile fired by the Israeli soldiers.
"After their refusal to surrender and fire at our forces, they acted to abort the terrorist command. The three suspects who were neutralized were involved in armed attacks in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and were planning others in the immediate future," he said in a statement. a joint communiqué between the Army and the internal secret service stating that the objective was the arrest of the three armed forces who had been wanted for weeks.
Six of the dead belonged to the Lions' Den, according to the statement from this small armed group in which it added: "Blood will be answered with blood and we continue on the path of Jihad. The option of joining the group is open to anyone." all".
While Al Fatah has praised its men who "heroically participated in the clashes" in Nablus, the spokesman for Hamas's armed wing, Abu Oveida, warned in an unusual message in recent weeks: "The resistance in Gaza observes the increasing crimes of the enemy against our people in the West Bank and his patience is running out.
From Ramallah, the spokesman for the PNA presidency, Nabil Abu Rudeina, condemned the incursion, demanded "an end to the occupation's continued aggression against the Palestinian people" and reiterated his call on the international community to intervene with Israel.
Israeli sources maintain that their incursions "are necessary to prevent terrorists from carrying out attacks", affirm that their troops "act surgically in strongholds with numerous densely populated terrorists such as Nablus and Jenin and where Abu Mazen's Palestinian Authority has no control or presence" and admit that they are preparing for possible revenge attacks. In late January, a Palestinian shot and killed seven Israeli civilians near a synagogue in north Jerusalem a day after Israeli soldiers killed eight militants and two Palestinian civilians in gun battles during their raid on Jenin.
In 2023, more than 50 Palestinians - mostly militants and bombers but also civilians - have been killed by Israeli gunfire while 11 Israelis (10 civilians and one agent) have been killed in Palestinian armed attacks on Jerusalem.
In recent weeks, the United States and Egypt have been trying to defuse the tension and avoid a major escalation that will hit Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. The Biden Administration sees it impossible to resume the peace negotiations paralyzed since 2014 today but at least hopes to avoid a new Intifada. An increasingly difficult mission.
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