A Palestinian gunman kills an Israeli in the West Bank, a day after Israel’s military raid in area.
JERUSALEM
After Israeli soldiers retreated from the biggest military operation in the West Bank in twenty years a Palestinian gunman opened fire near an Israeli settlement on Thursday killing one Israeli. The attacker was shot and killed by Israeli forces the army said.
Following a two day battle to target Palestinian terrorists Israel withdrew from the neighboring Jenin refugee camp and then there was gunfire. The operation destroyed the camp’s narrow roads and alleyways, sent thousands of people fleeing their homes and killed 12 Palestinians. One Israeli soldier also was killed. For More Information….
After over a year and a half of Israeli Palestinian killing in the West Bank a shooting occurred Thursday close to the Israeli community of Kedumim casting doubt on the raid’s efficacy. It also could prompt calls from members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government for additional military incursions.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich,
a firebrand settler leader, lives in the area of the shooting. Smotrich also oversees planning of settlements in the West Bank.
The army said that the shooter opened fire on Israeli forces that had stopped his vehicle for an inspection. The man drove away and was shot dead after a brief chase.
A spokesperson for the Palestinian militant group Hamas praised the shooting as as a “heroic act” and a “natural response” to the Israeli raid on Jenin.
The West Bank has seen a more than yearlong spike in violence that has created a challenge for Netanyahu’s far right government which is dominated by ultranationalists who have called for tougher action against Palestinian militants only to see the fighting worsen.
At least 25 Israeli killings have resulted from Palestinian attempts as well as to the more than 140 Palestinian deaths in the West Bank so far this year.
During the 1967 Middle East contention Israel captured control of East Jerusalem the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinians seek those territories for their hoped for independent state.
