The Israeli occupation forces sent in military reinforcements and set up military checkpoints in the northern West Bank and closed the entrances to the city of Nablus and the surrounding towns after a shooting attack Thursday evening that killed a settler and wounded two others.
While the Israeli Prime Minister vowed to pursue the perpetrators, a spokesman for the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas blessed the operation, describing it as an extension of the Palestinian people's revolution.
The Palestinian News Agency said that the occupation army is blocking the entrances to the city of Nablus, and indicated that hundreds of cars are stuck on the surrounding roads.
Anadolu Agency quoted Ghassan Daghlas, the official in charge of the settlement file in the northern West Bank, as saying that the occupation army had set up military checkpoints in the vicinity of Nablus and its towns, on the road between the cities of Nablus and Jenin, and in several areas in the northern West Bank.
Douglas added that the occupation forces imposed strict measures in the northern West Bank, which caused a stifling traffic crisis on the streets, and disrupted the citizens' access to their homes.
The Palestinian official also indicated that Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles with stones on the road between Nablus and Qalqilya, Nablus and Tulkarm, causing damage to a number of vehicles.
On the other hand, the occupation army said that its forces are searching for suspects in the attack, which took place north of Nablus.
יחד עם כל עם ישראל, אני שולח תנחומים מעומק הלב למשפחתו של למשפחתו של הנרצח בפיגוע הקשה שאירע הער ער בשומצרון להומצרון להומצרון,
כוחות הביטחון ישימו את ידם על המחבלים במהרה.
אנו נבוא עמם חשבון.
— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) December 16, 2021
An Israeli holiday
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett condemned the attack in a statement issued by his office.
"The security forces will arrest the terrorists very soon, and we will ensure that justice is served," he added.
In this context, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that his forces will double the monitoring, stressing the readiness to thwart what he called terrorism in the occupied West Bank.
He also stressed the continuation of taking all necessary measures to confront what he called "terrorist groups" in the region, in reference to the Palestinian resistance factions.
פיגוע הירי בשומרון: נקבע מותו של אחד הפצועים@carmeldangor #חדשותהערב pic.twitter.com/z6tFkJ0E64
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) December 16, 2021
Attack details
Earlier, an Israeli settler in his twenties was killed and two others were injured after their car came under fire near the settlement of Homesh, west of Nablus in the northern West Bank.
A paramedic in the Magen David Adom said that he tried in vain to revive a passenger in the back seat of the car who was unconscious after being shot, adding, "We had to declare him dead."
He pointed out that "the driver of the car and another passenger are fully conscious and suffer minor injuries due to shards of glass" from the windows.
A spokesman for the occupation forces announced that the settlers' car was fired at from a speeding car that fled, and it is suspected that it was carrying two people.
It is noteworthy that the occupation authorities evacuated the settlement of Homesh, which was built on the lands of the towns of Barqa, Wassila al-Dhahr, in 2005, but settlers still visit it from time to time.
הירי בשומרון פיגוע: ניידת של מד"א הגיעה לזירה לטפל בפצועים, הצעיר במצב האנוש פונה בתאג"ד צה"לי לבית החולים בילינסון @ ItayBlumental @carmeldangor
(צילום: אביה דויטש, the
TPS) Pic.twitter.com/5prdZQd7GN
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) December 16, 2021
Hamas position
Commenting on the attack, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said, in a statement that Anatolia received a copy of it, that the movement blesses the "heroic operation against the occupying soldiers and killer settlers."
The Hamas spokesman considered that the operation represents an extension of the Palestinian people's revolution in all arenas and proves once again that the Palestinian people in the West Bank will continue their legitimate struggle until the occupier and its settlers are expelled from the entire Palestinian land.
The shooting comes after a series of attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank in the recent period.
The latest attack came less than a month after an Israeli was killed and 4 others wounded in a shooting attack in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem, carried out by Palestinian Fadi Abu Shkhaydam, on November 21, during which he was martyred.
Last week, the occupation police arrested a 14-year-old Palestinian girl on suspicion of stabbing a settler in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem.
The young woman's family is threatened with expulsion from the neighborhood.
Thursday's operation came as the Israeli coalition government is divided over the issue of violence perpetrated by Jewish settlers against Palestinians.
Between the beginning of 2020 and the middle of 2021, Israeli settlers launched more than 450 attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, without the occupation army interfering in most of these cases to stop the violence, according to a report by the anti-settlement NGO B'Tselem.