Israeli troops have raided a stronghold of an armed group in the occupied West Bank’s second largest city, blowing up an explosives lab and engaging in a firefight in which five Palestinians were killed, the military says.
Another 20 were wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The overnight raid in the old city, or kasbah, of Nablus, was one of the deadliest in the West Bank in 2022 and comes at a time of escalating conflict.
The target of the raid was a group of Palestinian gunmen calling themselves the Lions’ Den. The group was responsible for the recent fatal shooting of an Israeli soldier and several attempted attacks, the army said.
The five men killed in the raid were in their 20s and 30s, the Health Ministry said. One of those killed, Wadie Houh, was reportedly a leader of the group. Several of the wounded were in serious condition, the ministry said.
Ongoing Israeli arrest raids in the West Bank pose a serious challenge to the Palestinian self-rule government, which administers just over one-third of the territory.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas relies on security cooperation with Israel, particularly against his Islamic militant rivals, to remain in power. At the same time, this cooperation is deeply unpopular among Palestinians who chafe against Israel’s open-ended occupation, now in its 56th year.
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