Deaths In West Bank Mosque: Israeli Troops Neutralise Five Palestinian Militants
- As US go after extremist Israeli settlers
- Targets govt-funded group active in Hebron hills
Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) claimed that their troops have killed five Palestinian militants at a mosque in the West Bank after “exchanges of fire during counter-terrorism operations in Tulkarm”.
Tulkarm is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, the capital of the Tulkarm Governorate of the State of Palestine.
The IDF said Thursday’s attack follows major overnight raids and airstrikes across the region which saw at least 10 Palestinians killed as part of an operation that military sources said could last days
According to the army, the operations were intended to contain attacks on Israelis using Iranian-supplied arms in the region.
The IDF said one of those killed was involved in a shooting attack on an Israeli civilian in June and described the four others who reportedly hid inside a mosque as “terrorists”.
On Wednesday, the Chief spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said the escalation of Israeli military operations on the West Bank, at the same time as the war in Gaza, would “lead to dire and dangerous results”.
US Sanctions Extremist Israeli Settlers In West Bank
In a dramatic turn of events, the United States (US) has announced new sanctions against extremist settlers in the West Bank who are funded by the Israeli government.
The moves come as Washington steps up its attempt to rein in worsening settler violence in the region.
However, the new measures have drawn a sharp response from Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, whose office said it viewed them “with utmost severity”, adding that the issue was under “pointed discussion” with Washington.
The sanctions target one organisation and one individual with long involvement in the intimidation of Palestinians with the aim of seizing their land.
The US Treasury has made them “specially designated nationals”, which means their assets are blocked and US citizens and companies are prohibited from dealing with them.
The targeted group was Hashomer Yosh, which provides security for illegal settler outposts, including some which have already been sanctioned by the US. The group has been particularly active in the south Hebron hills, at the southern end of the West Bank, which has been a focus of Israeli settler violence against local Bedouin inhabitants.
“After all 250 Palestinian residents of Khirbet Zanuta (a village at the centre of the struggle for land) were forced to leave in late January, Hashomer Yosh volunteers fenced off the village to prevent the residents from returning,” the US state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said in a statement.
Hashomer Yosh is officially a non-government organisation, but it has been funded and supported in recent years by Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightwing coalition.
The targeted individual in Wednesday’s sanctions was Yitzhak Levi Filant, the security coordinator at Yitzhar settlement, just south of Nablus. He, like other settler security coordinators, draws a salary directly from the Israeli Defence Ministry.
“Although Filant’s role is akin to a security or law enforcement officer, he has engaged in malign activities outside the scope of his authority,” Miller said. – With agency reports
