2 Palestinians said wounded by IDF gunfire in Nablus
Army confirms shots were fired, says it’s checking reports of injuries; incident occurs as soldiers escort worshipers to Joseph’s Tomb holy site
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJudah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
Two Palestinians were shot and wounded by Israeli troops in Nablus early Tuesday morning as the soldiers provided protection to a group of Jewish worshipers visiting the West Bank city’s Joseph’s Tomb holy site, Palestinian media reported.
The IDF confirmed that during the escort operation in Nablus’s Balata refugee camp, soldiers “identified an armed suspect and opened fire at him.” The military said it was investigating the reports of injured Palestinians.
According to the Palestinian Ma’an news outlet, the two men were lightly to moderately injured.
The IDF, along with the police and Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration, was escorting some 500 worshipers.
The military said the group’s prayer services were held as scheduled.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, the IDF arrested six Palestinian suspects overnight. One of them was picked up for allegedly belonging to the Hamas terror group. According to the army, the other five were arrested for throwing rocks and taking part in violent protests.
On an almost monthly basis, the army escorts Jewish, and occasionally Christian, worshipers to the Joseph’s Tomb shrine. Israelis are forbidden from visiting the site without the military’s permission. In the past, Nablus residents have attacked the groups visiting the site with rocks, Molotov cocktails and rifle fire.
In October 2015, Palestinian rioters set fire to the holy site. It was restored and reopened a few weeks later.
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