Three Palestinians were executed by Israeli forces in the West Bank

Three Palestinian fighters were killed from Sunday to Monday in a new Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank against the backdrop of an outbreak of violence between Palestinians and Israelis since the beginning of the year.

The Israeli army said it opened fire and “killed two attackers” in response to shots fired at soldiers during an “anti-terrorist” operation in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, north of the West Bank.

In pursuit of several suspects, troops discovered weapons in the area, including three M-16 assault rifles, two of which were in the possession of the fighters, according to a military statement, as well as ammunition and military equipment.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, three people, Mohammad Abu-Zaytoun, 32, Fathi Abu-Rizzak, 30, and Abdullah Abu-Hamdan, 24, were shot in the Balata camp and six people were killed. Wounded, one seriously.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party, said in a statement that the three men killed were “combatants” of the group.

– “Crime” –

The Palestinian president on Monday condemned “a real massacre”.

Its spokesman Nabil Abu Rudina called the repeated operations of Israeli forces in Nablus a “major war crime and a collective punishment that must be ended immediately”, calling on the US administration to “intervene immediately to stop the Israeli madness”. “

Witnesses told AFP that Israeli armed forces raided several homes in the Balata camp overnight, saying they heard gunfire and loud explosions. He said that a house was demolished.

The Israeli army also announced that it raided the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank, where it arrested three suspects and seized military equipment.

These new deaths come against the backdrop of an outbreak of violence between Palestinians and Israelis since the beginning of the year.

Also in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli soldier was lightly wounded in a fierce attack in Huwara near Nablus on Sunday evening, the Israeli army said, adding that the vehicle had fled.

Since the beginning of the year, at least 153 Palestinians, 20 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian have been killed in violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to an AFP tally compiled from official Israeli and Palestinian sources.

These figures include combatants and civilians on the Palestinian side, including minors, and on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, including minors, and three members of the Arab minority.

About three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, the territory occupied by Israel since 1967. About 490,000 Israelis also live there in settlements considered illegal under international law by the United Nations.