The Al-Zayyim checkpoint operation east of Jerusalem is one of several operations that took place recently on the outskirts of Jerusalem (French)

Occupied Jerusalem -

On Thursday morning, 3 Palestinian youths from the city of Bethlehem, in the south of the West Bank, carried out a shooting attack towards the Al-Zayyim checkpoint, east of occupied Jerusalem, which led to the death of an Israeli soldier and the wounding of 8 others, including two in critical condition, before two of the perpetrators were martyred. The attack, while the third was wounded.

The occupation said that the perpetrators were the two brothers, Muhammad and Kazem Issa Zawahra (26 and 31 years old), from the town of Beit Tamar in Bethlehem, south of occupied Jerusalem, and Ahmed Azzam Al-Wahsh (32 years old), from the town of Zaatara, adjacent to Beit Tamar.

In details, the Hebrew sources reported that the three young men rode a blue vehicle towards the Al-Zayyim checkpoint near the village of Al-Tur, caused a traffic accident, then advanced towards the checkpoint and engaged in an armed clash with the occupation soldiers there.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that the General Authority for Civil Affairs, which is the body that communicates with the Israeli side, informed it of the martyrdom of the two Zawahra brothers, and that the monster suffered “wounds whose nature is not yet known.”

Israeli media: A soldier was killed and 8 others were injured in a shooting operation at a military checkpoint near the Maale Adumim settlement, east of occupied Jerusalem.


The Shin Bet announced that the perpetrators of the attack were Muhammad and Kazem Zawahra from the village of Al-Ta’amra, east of Bethlehem, and Ahmed Al-Wahsh from Za’atara, south of Bethlehem.


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Doctor and groom

According to family sources, Ahmed Al-Wahsh is an orthopedic doctor and was born a year ago with his daughter, Zain, in February 2023. As for Muhammad Zawahra, he studied accounting and economics, while his brother Kazem studied engineering and got married last September. He is known as Al-Wahsh’s close friend.

The occupation police closed the street leading to the checkpoint, and Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir rushed to the place under heavy guard, and praised the policy of arming the settlers that he had foreseen, even though the operation was against armed soldiers at the most fortified military checkpoint.

This operation came less than a week after Jerusalemite Fadi Jamjoum (40 years old) carried out a shooting attack towards a bus stop in the Kiryat Malachi settlement, northeast of the Gaza Strip, on February 16, which led to the killing of two settlers and the injury of others.

The participation of the two Zawahra brothers in carrying out the operation also reminded of the two martyred Jerusalemite brothers Murad and Ibrahim Nimr (30 and 38 years old), who carried out a shooting attack towards a bus stop in the Ramot settlement, north of Jerusalem, on November 30, which led to the killing of 4 settlers. Two others were injured, as the occupation is still holding their bodies after the bombing of their homes in the village of Sur Baher.

Symbolism of the site

The Al-Za'im checkpoint operation was similar to the Tunnel Checkpoint operation, last November 16, which was carried out by 3 young Palestinians from the city of Hebron in the south of the West Bank, namely Abdul Qader, Nasr Al-Qawasmi, and Hassan Qafisha, and led to the death of a soldier and the injury of others.

They were similar in the early morning timing, the number of perpetrators and their fate, the nature of the operation, their descent from the southern West Bank, and their targeting of a military checkpoint near occupied Jerusalem.

The three perpetrators of the “Zayyim” operation chose to fire with M16 and Carlo weapons at a checkpoint that is closest to the largest settlement in occupied Jerusalem, “Maale Adumim,” established on the lands of the towns of Abu Dis and Al-Eizariya, east of the city.

They also chose the morning time - minutes before eight o'clock local time - when the settlers go to work in Jerusalem, and there is great vigilance by the soldiers at the checkpoint.

This operation took place in an area administratively and security-controlled by the occupation authority, in light of the increase in security and military control since the seventh of last October, especially at the points of contact between the West Bank, Jerusalem and the occupied interior, where the perpetrators crossed the “Container” checkpoint that separates the south of the West Bank from its north. .

The operation also took place on Main Street No. 1, which extends from Tel Aviv to the north of Jerusalem towards the Maale Adumim settlement and then to the north of the Dead Sea.

The place reminds Jerusalemites of the freed prisoner Israa Jaabis, whose vehicle caught fire in the same area on October 11, 2015. The occupation arrested her on charges of attempting to carry out an operation and sentenced her to 11 years in prison, of which she served 8 years, when she was released in the last prisoner exchange deal on the 25th. November 2023.

Al-Zayyim’s operation came after an Israeli decision to restrict the access of worshipers to Al-Aqsa Mosque, which Ben Gvir was behind (French)

Process messages

In his comment on the operation, Adel Shadid, a researcher specializing in Israeli affairs, told Al Jazeera Net that the perpetrators chose prominent addresses in confronting the occupation, namely the proximity to a settlement and Jerusalem, and targeting a military checkpoint.

He added that the perpetrators traveled tens of kilometers from their place of residence in the West Bank with prior planning, to thwart the occupation’s attempt to isolate the Gaza Strip from the West Bank and to show that the war is only against Hamas, and to reinforce the concept of “united areas” adopted by the resistance and that the rockets that fall on Gaza fall on the West Bank and Jerusalem as well. .

Shadid added, "This operation came after Ben Gvir's decision to restrict the entry of Palestinians to Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of Ramadan, the continuation of massacres in Gaza, and the increase in extremism in the Israeli street, in a clear message that blood brings blood, and the more aggressive the occupation increases, the more the pace of resistance increases."

Source: Al Jazeera