3 Palestinians shot dead while attacking IDF troops in West Bank
Woman killed trying to stab guards at Jordan Valley checkpoint, two men killed assaulting soldiers near Hebron, as army ends 50-hour refugee camp operation amid heightened tensions
The army said soldiers opened fire at three Palestinians who attacked them on Sunday in the West Bank, where violence has flared in recent days, with the Palestinian Authority health ministry confirming that all three had died.
In the first incident, at the Beit Einun junction near Hebron in the southern West Bank, the Israel Defense Forces said a man had shot at troops, while another attempted to stab them, before the soldiers opened fire on both attackers, whom medics later declared dead.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing local sources, said that ambulance crews were prevented from reaching the two, whom the agency identified as Mohammad Majid Jabareen, 19, and Musa Mahmoud Jabareen, 18.
In the second incident, the military said soldiers shot a woman who tried to stab them at the Beka’ot checkpoint — also known as Hamra, after the adjacent settlement — in the north West Bank’s Jordan Valley. She was later confirmed dead by Palestinian Authority health authorities.
WAFA identified her as Manal Sawafta, 40, from Tubas in the Jordan Valley.
Violence in the West Bank, already on the rise before October 7 — when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and abduct over 250 — has escalated throughout the war sparked by the onslaught, with frequent army raids on terror groups, rampages by Jewish settlers in Palestinian villages, and deadly Palestinian street attacks.
The IDF began an extended raid in the early hours of Friday in the Nur Shams refugee camp, near the flashpoint Palestinian city of Tulkarm, and exchanged fire with gunmen well into Saturday.
Fourteen Palestinian operatives were killed in the fire exchanges and 10 soldiers were wounded, according to an IDF statement issued on Sunday, after it had completed the 50-hour operation.
Nur Shams residents have so far identified only five of the fatalities as operatives. One of those killed was a 16-year-old boy, authorities said.
Since October 7, IDF troops have arrested some 3,850 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,650 affiliated with Hamas. According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 480 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time.
