Israeli Army Kills Four Palestinians in Deadliest West Bank Raid of the Year

The precarious balance on which the situation in the north of the occupied West Bank is based suffered a new blow this Wednesday, with the death of four Palestinians in a raid by the Israeli army in the city of Jenin, the epicenter of the tension in the last months.

Another 44 Palestinians have been injured in clashes sparked by Israeli border police and army forces (part of them incognito) raiding in the morning with the intention of arresting “two suspects involved in several recent shooting attacks ”, the Israeli armed forces have indicated in a statement.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Islamic Jihad have indicated that the dead belonged to their organizations.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health has identified them as Ahmad Alawneh, 26;

Mohammad al-Wanneh, 30;

Mohammad Abu Naasah;

and Abed Hazem, 27. The latter was the brother of Raad Hazem, who last April killed three Israelis by shooting passers-by in Tel Aviv before fleeing.

Nine hours later, he was gunned down in nearby Yaffa.

Earlier this month, the Israeli army demolished his house in Jenin, as it often does in retaliation for relatives of attackers.

The Israeli army has released a video showing a Palestinian with an automatic weapon sheltered from gunfire behind a wall.

As he prepares to open fire, he is shot in the head, apparently by an Israeli elite sniper, who is often stationed on tall buildings during raids.

Two others died in the house where they were surrounded by the soldiers.

The two Palestinians opened fire and detonated an explosive at troops coming to arrest them, the army said in its statement.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, has praised the operation – in which no soldier has been injured – and has defined it as “precise at the highest level”.

It is the deadliest Israeli raid in the West Bank so far in a year in which almost a hundred Palestinians have already been killed in that territory, the highest number since 2014. In recent months, military incursions into the West Bank have been almost daily, usually at night.

Israel enters to make arrests, as it believes that the Palestinian Authority security forces have lost control over the armed militias in the area.

In addition, it is on alert for the concatenation of Jewish festivities, which began on Sunday with the new year, Rosh Hashanah, in which access from the Gaza Strip was closed.

In Ramallah, almost all shops have closed their shutters from noon.

The authorities have declared a day of mourning and a general strike, which includes the closure of shops, in most West Bank cities.

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