Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
WEKU
WEKU
The Associated Press

Israeli forces have killed three Palestinians in a shootout in the West Bank

Israeli soldiers operate in village of Sarra near the Palestinians West Bank city of Nablus, Sunday, March 12, 2023. Israeli forces fatally shot three Palestinian gunmen who opened fire on troops in the occupied West Bank. It was the latest bloodshed in a year-long wave of violence in the region. (Majdi Mohammed/AP)

JERUSALEM — Israeli forces shot and killed three Palestinian gunmen Sunday who opened fire on troops in the occupied West Bank, the military said, the latest bloodshed in a year-long wave of violence in the region.

The military said one gunman turned himself in and was arrested. The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed three people were killed near the city of Nablus. It did not immediately disclose their identities.

The deaths Sunday bring to 80 the number of Palestinians killed since the start of the year, as Israel has stepped up arrest raids in the West Bank. A spasm of Palestinian attacks has killed 14 people in 2023.

The fresh violence follows an Israeli military raid last week on the West Bank village of Jaba, where three Palestinian militants were killed. Hours later, a Palestinian gunman opened fire on a busy Tel Aviv thoroughfare at the start of the Israeli weekend, wounding three people before being shot and killed.

The current round of violence is one of the worst between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank in years. It began last spring after a series of Palestinian attacks against Israelis that triggered near-nightly Israeli raids in the West Bank.

Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 2022, making it the deadliest year in those areas since 2004, according to the leading Israeli rights group B'Tselem. Palestinian attacks against Israelis during that same time killed 30 people.

The military says most of the Palestinians killed were militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.

Israel says the raids are essential to dismantle militant networks and prevent future attacks. But attacks appear to be intensifying rather than slowing down.

The Palestinians view the raids as a tightening by Israel of its 55-year, open-ended occupation of lands they seek for their future state.

Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for their future independent state.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.