Israeli forces have carried out a series of raids across the occupied West Bank, killing at least five Palestinians and injuring over 20 others.
The new fatalities took place early Tuesday when Israeli forces attacked several neighborhoods in the Old City of Nablus as well as a town north of Ramallah, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
The raid on Nablus led to four fatalities among Palestinians while a fifth one was killed during an attack by Israeli forces on Nabi Saleh town north of Ramallah. The Palestinian killed in Nabi Saleh was a teenager shot in the chest by Israeli forces' live fire, Wafa reported.
According to Palestinian Shehab news agency, the fourth Palestinian killed during the Nablus raid was one of the leaders of the Lions' Den resistance group, identified as Wadih al-Houh, who succumbed to his wounds sustained during the attack by the occupation forces on the Old City of Nablus.
Zaher Jabareen, a member of the Political Bureau of the Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement issued a statement, lamenting the death of Palestinians in the Israeli forces’ raid on Nablus.
Hamas praised “the heroic resistance fighters" of the Lions' Den group “who bravely stand up against the attacks of the occupation forces,” adding, “We call on our people and our resistance fighters to stand up to the occupation and fight it."
Nabil Abu Rudeinah, the spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, also said in a statement that Abbas was establishing "urgent contacts in order to stop this aggression against our people" in Nablus.
According to Wafa news agency, "sounds of shooting and explosions were heard and columns of smoke and flames were seen emanating from several neighborhoods" after Israeli forces stormed the Old City of Nablus during early hours of Tuesday, searching for members of the Lions' Den resistance group.
Wafa also quoted local sources as saying that Israeli forces posted snipers on the roofs of houses and buildings overlooking the city center and the neighborhoods of the Old City, where they deliberately opened fire at members of the Palestinian security forces, wounding 4 of them.
The Israeli forces even prevented ambulances from reaching the Old City to transport the wounded to hospital.
The new round of aggression came following confrontations between the regime's forces and Palestinians, who were protesting earlier killing of a senior member of the Lions' Den.
Tamer Kilani was murdered on Sunday in a bomb attack in Nablus, the group has announced.
He lost his life after an explosive device that had been attached to a motorcycle was detonated as Kilani was passing by in Nablus' Old City, which is located approximately 49 kilometers (30 miles) north of the occupied city of al-Quds.
The resistance group has threatened a “painful response.”
Video footage has, meanwhile, been shared across social media of the blast and an apparent "Israeli collaborator" planting the bomb on the motorbike.
The Israeli regime has subjected the entire Nablus to a siege since reported killing of an Israeli trooper.
Israeli forces have recently been conducting overnight raids and killings in the northern occupied West Bank, mainly in the cities of Jenin and Nablus, where new groups of Palestinian resistance fighters have been formed.
At least 175 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the illegally occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip since the beginning of the year, including 51 Palestinians during Israel’s three-day assault on Gaza in August, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Local and international rights groups have condemned Israel’s excessive use of force and “shoot-to-kill policy” against Palestinians.
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