Israeli army says it killed 2 Palestinians attempting West Bank bombings
The UN said that at least 637 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers since the Gaza war began
The Israeli army said on Saturday that two Palestinians were killed overnight while preparing to carry out bombings in the occupied West Bank, where an Israeli operation entered a fourth day.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel triggered the war in Gaza, issued a statement hailing a “heroic operation” in the south of the West Bank, saying it came at “a sensitive time” with Israeli forces pressing on with raids in the north of the territory.
Hamas ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has a strong presence in the northern West Bank, similarly said it “congratulates” the perpetrators of what it called a “coordinated attack”.
The Israeli army described a vehicle explosion at a petrol station in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc as “an attempted car bombing by a terrorist” who was later killed.
An army officer “was moderately injured, and a reservist officer responsible for the security in a nearby community sustained minor injuries,” it said in a statement.
In the second incident, the head of security in the Israeli settlement of Karmei Zur engaged in a car chase with a “terrorist” who had infiltrated the settlement compound, leading to a collision and “the terrorist being neutralised shortly after”, the statement said.
