IDF carries out drone strike in Nablus, hours after shooting lightly wounds soldier
Two Palestinian reported killed as army operates in Balata camp; troops search for the assailants who fired at military post
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The IDF carried out a drone strike in the Balata camp near the West Bank city of Nablus Saturday afternoon during an operation, the military said.
The Palestinian Authority health ministry reported two dead and 22 wounded as a result of the Israeli drone strike.
Palestinian media identified the slain men as Louay Masha, 17, and Ali Hashash, 24. Masha was identified as a member of an armed group in Balata.
On Saturday morning an IDF soldier was lightly injured in a shooting attack that targeted an army post near Nablus, the military said.
According to the IDF, Palestinian gunmen opened fire from deep within Nablus at the army post. Troops were searching for the assailants.
The soldier was taken to a hospital and was in good condition.
Hours before the Saturday incidents near Nablus, a Border Police officer shot at a car that accelerated toward cops in East Jerusalem’s Issawiya, “neutralizing” the driver in the early hours of Saturday morning, the force said.
Police said the officer opened fire after feeling his life was in danger, adding that an investigation into the incident was underway.
The driver was seriously wounded and taken to a local hospital, according to Hebrew media reports. No policemen were injured.
Tensions have been high in the West Bank amid the war in the Gaza Strip, which began on October 7 when thousands of Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel under a barrage of rockets fired at population centers all over the country. They brutally killed some 1,200 people, amid instances of torture and rape, and seized 251 hostages.
Since October 7, troops have arrested some 4,400 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,850 affiliated with Hamas.
According to the PA health ministry, 589 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.
During the same period, 23 Israelis, including security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another five members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.
