JERUSALEM (Washington Insider Magazine) – On Saturday, the Israeli forces announced the arrest of two Palestinian attackers accused of shooting and killing a security officer at the entrance to a Jewish community in the West Bank.
The arrest came following a manhunt that began immediately after the incident on Friday evening. The apprehension and seizure of firearms from the 2 suspects took place in the region of Qarawat Bani Hassan, according to Israeli special forces, soldiers, and border police.
The new incident, paired with the killing of a Palestinian man somewhere in the disputed West Bank, has the potential to exacerbate tensions that have been rising in recent months. According to ABC NEWS, a series of Palestinian strikes in the West Bank and Israel have killed 15 Israelis, while at least 27 Palestinians have been slain by Israeli security personnel in recent weeks.
The security officer was killed late Friday night outside Ariel, a significant community in the northern West Bank, by two gunmen in a car, according to the army. According to the report, the guard stepped in front of another guard with him, saving her life.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett sent his sympathies to the security officer’s family. “No terrorist can evade us,” he stated in a declaration after the suspects were apprehended.
In Gaza, Hamas commander Yehiyeh Sinwar urged for an increase in strikes on Israeli targets in the West Bank, claiming that the “real battle arena” is there. He gave a speech in which he praised the assailants who shot the guard.
According to the army, Israeli authorities put up checkpoints and conducted searches for the assailants in the region on Saturday. It claimed to have detained two alleged Hamas militants, although there was no clear indication that they were engaged in the incident. The assassination of the guard was hailed by Hamas, although the group did not claim responsibility for the attack.
A 27-year-old Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces in Azoun village in Qalqilya early Saturday, according to the Palestinian Ministry Of health. After a bunch of suspects tossed firebombs at the troops, the army stated it opened fire.
Palestinian shooting incidents in Israeli city areas, an Israeli military clampdown in the northern West Bank, in which some of the assailants originated, and recurring clashes between Israeli security services and Palestinians around Jerusalem’s most vulnerable religious site have all amplified unrest in recent weeks.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s 3rd holiest site, is located on the location, and a rising number of Palestinians visit to worship during the Muslim month of ramadhan. The hilltop structure is also a sacred site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount since it is the location of the biblical Temples.
The location is a common source of friction, and fighting there last year contributed to the start of an 11-day conflict between Gaza rebels and Israel.
More trips by religious Jewish organizations to the hilltop complex, as well as skirmishes between Palestinians and security forces guarding the visitors, according to Sinwar, the Hamas commander, might lead to a fresh episode of cross-border conflict in Gaza.
Palestinians and Israeli forces have battled there many times in recent weeks, notably on Friday morning. Security personnel were compelled to intervene to stop stone-throwing, according to Israeli officials, who accuse Hamas of instigating violence.
According to the Palestinians, the installation of Israeli forces at the site, as well as frequent visits by a rising number of devout Jews and nationalists, is a breach of the site’s decades-old informal agreements. Last week, the visits were suspended for the last ten days of Ramadan, which ends this weekend.
