Six Palestinians said killed as IDF arrests 2 terror suspects in northern West Bank

Military says soldiers exchanged fire with gunmen during operation; gunfire, blasts and smoke seen and heard in footage from village near Nablus

By ToI Staff and Agencies 8 December 2023, 11:51 am Edit
Military vehicles seen in the al-Far'a refugee camp, northeast of Nablus, in the West Bank, December 8, 2023. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)
Military vehicles seen in the al-Far'a refugee camp, northeast of Nablus, in the West Bank, December 8, 2023. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

The Israel Defense Force said Friday it conducted an arrest operation in the northern West Bank in the morning, nabbing two terror suspects and exchanging fire with gunmen in the Far’a refugee camp north of Nablus. Palestinian authorities said six Palestinians were killed in the clashes.

The military said it arrested five suspects throughout the West Bank’s Jordan Valley region, confiscating weapons and ammunition.

It said that in Far’a troops came under fire and killed a number of gunmen.

The Palestinian Wafa news agency said an unspecified number of people were also injured.

Gunfire, blasts and smoke could be seen and heard in footage from the scene.

Violence has flared in the territory since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

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 2,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,100 affiliated with Hamas. According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, some 200 West Bank Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, and in a few cases settlers.

Based on military estimates, the vast majority of the 200 Palestinians killed since October 7 were shot dead during clashes amid arrest raids. Around 60 percent of them, according to data seen by The Times of Israel, were armed with either a firearm or an explosive device.

The IDF is aware of at least three cases of uninvolved Palestinians being killed by troops in recent weeks, and a handful of cases of settlers killing Palestinians, that are still under investigation.

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