Israeli security forces on Saturday arrested suspected perpetrators of a deadly attack the previous day in the occupied northern West Bank, after nearly a day of pursuit and arrests, authorities said.
On Friday evening, two assailants shot and killed an Israeli guard, Vyacheslav Golev, 23, who was guarding one of the entrances to the Israeli settlement of Ariel, located in the north of the occupied West Bank.
“Following intense intelligence and operational activity by the Shin Bet [domestic security service], police special forces and the military, two suspects were arrested this evening,” police said in a statement. .
They were arrested with their weapons in the Palestinian village of Qarawat Bani Hassan, northwest of Ariel, the army said.
After shooting the guard, the assailants fled by car and Israeli forces immediately launched a manhunt to find them.
“There is no terrorist who will escape us and with whom we will not settle accounts (…) Together we will win,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement after the announcement of the capture of the two suspects. .
Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, on Saturday.
"Heroic Operation"
“We claim responsibility for the heroic operation in Ariel settlement in which a Zionist [Israeli] officer was killed.
It was carried out in response to violations committed by the occupation government in Jerusalem,” the group said in a statement.
An allusion to the clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians who have left nearly 300 Palestinians injured for two weeks on and around the esplanade of the Mosques in East Jerusalem, a sector of the Holy City occupied and annexed by Israel.
The Esplanade of the Mosques is the third holiest site in Islam and the holiest in Judaism under its name of Temple Mount.
During these clashes, the Israeli police deployed on the esplanade to which they control access, and also once entered the al-Aqsa mosque, throwing tear gas, prompting condemnation from Palestinians and other countries. Muslims.
The leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinouar, threatened Saturday with a "big battle" against Israel in the event of a new "aggression" by Israeli forces in the al-Aqsa mosque.
Manhunt
For nearly a day, between Friday and Saturday evening, the Israeli security forces, which had been reinforced, had embarked on a manhunt in the northern West Bank to find the suspects of the attack. 'Ariel.
The soldiers made arrests and seized weapons in particular in the Palestinian village of Bruqin west of Ariel, and in the refugee camp of Balata, near Nablus, according to the army.
A Palestinian in his twenties, Yahya Adwan, was shot dead on the night of Friday to Saturday during one of these search operations, in the locality of Azzoun, about twenty kilometers from Ariel .
Clashes erupted after his funeral on Saturday in Azzoun between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers.
Three Palestinians were injured by live ammunition in the legs and hospitalized, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported.
The Israeli army reported a "violent riot", during which dozens of Palestinians attacked soldiers with rocks and burning tires.
The guard's death in the West Bank brings the number of people killed in anti-Israel attacks since March 22 to 15.
Between March 22 and April 7, 14 people were killed in attacks in Israeli territory, including an Israeli Arab policeman and two Ukrainians.
Two of the attacks in Israel were perpetrated in the Tel Aviv area by Palestinians from the West Bank.
In the wake of these attacks, the Israeli army carried out several operations in the West Bank punctuated by deadly clashes.
A total of 27 Palestinians and three Israeli Arabs were killed, including attackers.
About 475,000 Israelis live in the West Bank in settlements deemed illegal under international law.
More than 2.8 million Palestinians also live in this territory.
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