From the Liveblog of
Sunday, December 17, 2023
IDF confirms it carried out drone strike on Palestinian gunmen in West Bank
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The IDF confirms it carried out a drone strike against a group of Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank’s Nur Shams refugee camp during an overnight operation.
It says reservists and Border Police officers operated in the camp near Tulkarem and arrested four wanted Palestinians and seized two firearms.
IDF engineering vehicles uncovered explosive devices planted under and on the sides of roads in the camp, which were intended to be detonated against troops, it says.
The IDF says troops also found an explosive device inside a clinic in Nur Shams, where wanted Palestinians were hiding.
Amid the raid, Palestinian gunmen opened fire and others hurled explosive devices and Molotov cocktails at the soldiers, the IDF says.
“Aircraft struck a number of armed terror squads who fired at, hurled explosives at and endangered the troops,” it says, adding that at least four gunmen were killed and others were wounded.
The soldiers also seized several explosive devices from the area of one of the strikes, the IDF adds.
Since the October 7 onslaught by Hamas against Israel, in which 3,000 terrorists slaughtered 1,200 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians, Israeli troops have arrested over 2,400 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,200 affiliated with Hamas. According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, some 280 West Bank Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, and in a few cases settlers.
