The Israeli occupation army announced that its forces had arrested the perpetrators of the Ariel settlement operation, which - yesterday - Thursday - killed a security guard, while its forces killed a Palestinian after storming the town of Azzun near Qalqilya.

The Israeli army said that the arrest of the two suspects took place in the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan, near the city of Salfit.

Kan channel (official) reported that joint forces from the army, the Shin Bet security service and the police seized the weapons that carried out the shooting.

On Friday, the Hebrew media confirmed the killing of an Israeli security guard in the settlement of Ariel, before the attackers fled the scene.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the military arm of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), claimed responsibility for the attack.

At the time, the Israeli army radio reported that there were fears of armed infiltration into nearby settlements.

A video clip of a masked young man - behind him a picture of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the Al-Aqsa Brigades logo - was spread on social media, reciting a written statement declaring the brigades' responsibility for this armed operation.

The Israeli authorities said that the shooting in Ariel brings to 15 the death toll at the hands of Arab attackers in Israel and West Bank settlements in the past few weeks.

On the other hand, estimates by a United Nations agency that Israeli forces have killed at least 40 Palestinians since last February, when tensions began to escalate.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett described the attacks since last March as a "new wave of terrorism."


West Bank revolution

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said that the operation against the Ariel settlement confirms that "the revolution is burning in all of the West Bank, and the rebellious youth insist on expelling the occupation and uprooting its settlers."

Qassem added that this process confirms that all the measures of the occupation are collapsing in front of the insistence of the Palestinian youth to fight and confront.

He stressed that Hamas "constitutes support and backing for all cases of the struggle against this Zionist occupation."

He said that the operation is a practical implementation of the Palestinian people's declaration that Jerusalem is a red line, and it is part of their response to the attack on Al-Aqsa and worshipers.

For its part, the Islamic Jihad movement blessed the operation, and its spokesman, Tariq Ezz El-Din, said that it confirms the continuity of the guerrilla action in resisting the occupation, and says that the resistance will not forget the crimes of the occupation against the Palestinian people and their sanctities.

Ezz El-Din added that the operation proves once again the failure of the Israeli security system, and that the defeat of the enemy is close, as he put it.

Martyr and raids

On the other hand, the people of Qalqilya governorate buried the body of Yahya Adwan after he was killed by the Israeli occupation bullets during his storming of Azzun town last Thursday night.

While the occupation forces launched a series of raids and arrests.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that the occupation forces killed the young man, Yahya Adwan, after he was shot during clashes that erupted with dozens of Palestinian youths at the entrance to the town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya.

The occupation forces fired live bullets, rubber-coated metal, and sound and gas bombs, which also led to a number of injuries.

Palestinian media circulated pictures taken by surveillance cameras showing the moment the freed prisoner, Yahya Adwan, was shot by the Israeli occupation forces in the town of Azzun.

The mourners called on the international community to take more serious stances to force the occupation to stop its daily crimes.

The occupation forces tightened their military measures, and set up roadblocks in the vicinity of Qalqilya and Salfit governorates, to pursue the perpetrators of the Ariel settlement attack.