Two Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in Nablus

The raid took place early Friday morning, with some locals describing it as an “invasion”, and resulted in the deaths of Hamza Maqbool and Khairi Shaheen.

Israeli forces raided the city in search of the two men, one confirmed to be affiliated with the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, according to Al-Jazeera. The men were tracked down to a house in old Nablus. Israeli troops then used loudspeakers to ask the men to surrender themselves. They were met with the return of improvised explosive devices, which prompted the Israeli army to call for more reinforcements.

The men were suspected of carrying out a shooting attack against police this week, according to Israel’s military.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society announced in a statement its crews “transferred the bodies of two martyrs from the Old City of Nablus”.

Israeli forces cordoned off the house before fatally shooting the men, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Three others were also injured.

The incident came less than two days after an Israeli army raid in the Jenin refugee camp that killed 12 Palestinians and wounded 140 others, 30 of them seriously.

The raid, which forced thousands to flee the camp which was left in rubble and ruin, was the largest Israeli attack in the West Bank in more than 20 years.

Israel has been conducting near-daily raids and killings of Palestinians in the West Bank since June 2021 in an attempt to crack down on a growing armed resistance.