Jerusalem (EFE).- The Israeli Army today shot dead three Palestinians in Nablus, north of the occupied West Bank, after they opened fire on a military post, reported the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The new deaths bring to 81 the number of Palestinians who have lost their lives in the area in violent incidents with Israel so far this year, including 15 minors.
This is the deadliest start of the year in the area since 2000, with an average of more than one per day, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health count.
On the Israeli side, 14 people have died, victims of Palestinian attacks in Israel or in Jewish settler settlements.
“Three armed men were neutralized during the exchange of fire and an additional gunman surrendered to the forces and was detained,” a military spokesman reported about this new incident in the Nablus area, one of the most troubled in the last year in the West Bank. .
The Army confirmed that armed Palestinians opened fire this morning at their soldiers at a military post located at the Jit junction, which connects Nablus with Qalqiliya.
a violent weekend
“The soldiers who were carrying out routine activities in the area responded with live fire against the gunmen and confiscated three M-16 rifles, a pistol, and chargers used by the assailants,” said the military spokesman, who confirmed that there were no injuries among the soldiers. israelis.
The official Palestinian agency Wafa reported that during the shooting, three Palestinian workers in a vehicle passing through the checkpoint suffered shrapnel injuries from Israeli bullets.
Witnesses in the village adjacent to the checkpoint told Wafa that after the shooting, Israeli soldiers broke into the shops and took surveillance camera footage.
This new incident follows a violent weekend that saw two Palestinians killed by Israeli bullets in separate incidents in the northern West Bank, and after a Palestinian attacker opened fire Thursday night at civilians in a central Tel Aviv square, injuring three people.
In addition, last week the army carried out two raids to detain suspects in Jenin – another particularly troubled area with a strong presence of Palestinian militias – in which six Palestinians were killed on Tuesday and three on Thursday, respectively, most of them militants. .