A coalition of Gaza-based Palestinian resistance groups has praised a retaliatory shooting operation in the southern West Bank city of al-Khalil that left two Israeli soldiers dead and three others wounded, describing it as a direct response to the Tel Aviv regime’s relentless atrocities against Palestinians.
The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), in a statement issued on Friday, praised the operation in al-Khalil, portraying it as a direct response to the horrendous crimes committed by Israeli authorities, the Israeli military, and extremist Jewish settlers across the occupied Palestinian territories.
The group stressed that the Zionist regime’s ongoing crimes would neither ensure the security of the occupying entity nor break the will of the Palestinian people.
The resistance coalition further noted that the retaliatory shooting dealt a heavy blow to Israel’s security, military and intelligence apparatus.
The Hamas resistance group called the shooting “heroic,” but did not claim responsibility for it.
Israeli media outlets identified the slain soldiers as Staff Seargent Ron Yonatan Roytman, 23, from Ashkelon, and Sergeant Yuval Shai Svilem, 20, from Hod Hasharon. Roytman was reportedly a squad commander.
The Israeli army alleged that the two Palestinians fatally shot in the incident were planning a larger attack against settlers on Route 35. They realised, however, that they would not be able to reach the highway and decided to open fire on the temporary checkpoint instead.
The two were named as Mohammad Jaaba and Firas Jaaba, 27-year-old residents of al-Khalil. They were members of the same family, though as of late Friday morning their exact relationship remained unclear.
The men purportedly arrived by car at around 7:30 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) at a temporary checkpoint set up by Israeli troops at the exit to al-Khalil.
They got out of the car on a side street, armed with an assault rifle and a pistol, and allegedly opened fire on the checkpoint, using the buildings as cover.
Footage from the incident showed a prolonged gunfight between the Palestinian men and Israeli troops. According to the Israeli military, it lasted more than 20 minutes.
Netanyahu directs army to prepare for complete West Bank lockdown
Meanwhile, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a situation assessment with the regime’s security chiefs in the aftermath of the retaliatory shooting operation, and ordered preparations for a full lockdown across the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu said he was joined by the Israeli military's chief of staff Eyal Zamir, war minister Israel Katz, David Zini, the director of Israel's internal spy agency, Shin Bet, top military adviser Shmuel Ben Ezra, and head of the Israeli army’s central command Avi Bluth.
Israeli minister calls for PA to be ‘dismantled’
In the wake of the West Bank shooting operation, Israel’s so-called security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for the Palestinian Authority (PA) to be dismantled.
“We have to act before it’s too late. The Palestinian Authority must be dismantled and demilitarized, and its infrastructure wiped out completely,” Ben-Gvir said.
The remarks came despite the fact that there was no indication of any PA involvement in the incident.
Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich separately wrote, “There’s no avoiding a large-scale military action in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, gather weapons and eliminate fighters.”
A United Nations report published in July said more than 900 Palestinians had been injured in Israeli settler attacks in the occupied West Bank since the start of the year, while 76 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces or settlers, or died of their injuries, over the same period.
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