The shooting came on the heels of Israel’s withdrawal from the nearby Jenin refugee camp following a two-day offensive aimed at cracking down on Palestinian militants. The operation destroyed the camp’s narrow roads and alleys, forced thousands of people to flee their homes and killed 12 Palestinians. An Israeli soldier was also killed.
Thursday’s incident near the West Bank settlement of Kedumim raised questions about the effectiveness of the Israeli incursion, which came after nearly a year and a half of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed in the area. It could also prompt calls from members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government for additional military incursions.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also a settler leader, lives in the area of the shooting. Smotrich also oversees settlement planning in the West Bank.
The Hamas insurgent group claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying it was a “natural response” to the Jenin raid. He said the 19-year-old assailant had targeted the Smotrich settlement.
“The enemy will know that their massacre in Jenin only increased our people’s insistence on resistance and adherence to their approach until liberation,” the group stressed.
According to the army, the assailant opened fire on Israeli soldiers who had stopped his vehicle for inspection. The car sped away and the man was shot and killed after a brief chase.
More than 140 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank so far in 2023, while Palestinian attacks on Israelis have killed at least 25 people, including four settlers in a gunfight last month.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War, as well as East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, the three territories the Palestinians want for their future independent state.
FUENTE: Associated Press
