Five Palestinians Killed in Attacks in the West Bank, Israel Says Targeting Militants' Lions

Illustration of Israel's border with Palestine in the West Bank. (Wikimedia Commons/Orrling)

JAKARTA - Five Palestinians were shot dead in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in Monday night's raids, while 20 others were injured, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.

The attack took place in Nablus, while another man was shot later in Ramallah, home to the Palestinian Authority office, the ministry said.

The Israeli army confirmed in a joint statement with police and intelligence services that it had carried out an operation in Nablus against a new militant group calling itself the Lion's Den, launches The National News on October 25.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid told Kan public radio that Wadie Houh, a leader of the Lion's Nest group, was killed in a shootout with Israeli forces last night.

"Israel will never be deterred from acting for its security", he said.

Israeli security forces raided a "hidden apartment that was used as a headquarters and explosives manufacturing site", the country's military said.

"The site is used by the main operation of the Lion's Nest terrorist group", the Israeli military said.

"During the raid, several armed suspects were shot and Palestinian reports indicate that many people were injured."

Meanwhile, the Lion's Nest which announced its formation in August said in a statement it had been involved in clashes with the Israeli army.

In recent days, the Israeli army has put up guards around Nablus to try to stop members of the group from launching attacks outside the city, leaving only three routes for Palestinians to leave and enter, via checkpoints.

Separately, the extremist group Islamic Jihad, which fought against Israel in Gaza in August, also said its "fighters were involved in violent clashes" with Israeli forces in Nablus and said there would be retaliation.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, the army said troops opened fire on a suspect who threw explosives at them during an arrest raid near the village of Nebi Saleh. The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported the death of 19-year-old Qusai Al Tamimi.

In response to the clashes, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will establish "urgent contacts to stop this aggression against our people", his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeinah said.

"Israel must stop its crimes immediately", Nabil Abu Rudeineh was quoted as saying by Reuters, adding President Abbas' office had reached out to the United States to "intervene to stop the aggression and end the occupation".

Meanwhile, Ismail Haniyeh, the political head of the Islamist group Hamas, said the death in Nablus "will only fuel a revolution in the West Bank".

Violence has spiked in recent months in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, especially in the areas of Nablus and Jenin.

The Israeli army has stepped up operations in both cities since March following deadly anti-Israel attacks.

The attacks, which are often accompanied by clashes with the Palestinian population, have resulted in more than a hundred Palestinian deaths, the highest death toll in the West Bank in about seven years, according to the United Nations.