Israeli Forces Kill 2 Palestinians Who Carried Out West Bank Bus Attack

Armed men from Hamas secure aid trucks that arrived the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, days after a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel went into effect. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Armed men from Hamas secure aid trucks that arrived the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, days after a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel went into effect. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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Israeli Forces Kill 2 Palestinians Who Carried Out West Bank Bus Attack

Armed men from Hamas secure aid trucks that arrived the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, days after a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel went into effect. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Armed men from Hamas secure aid trucks that arrived the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, days after a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel went into effect. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israeli forces have killed two Palestinians who carried out a deadly attack on a bus in the West Bank earlier this month.
The Israeli military said Thursday that the two men barricaded themselves in a structure in the West Bank village of Burqin and exchanged fire with Israeli troops before they were killed overnight. The army said a soldier was moderately wounded, The Associated Press said.
The military said Mohammed Nazzal and Katiba al-Shalabi were operatives with the Islamic Jihad group.
The Hamas group released a statement claiming the two men were members of its armed wing and praising the bus attack. Hamas and the smaller and more radical Islamic Jihad are allies that sometimes carry out attacks together.
The Jan. 6 attack on the bus carrying Israelis killed three people and wounded six others.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.



Hezbollah Urges Lebanese State to Push for Israel’s Pullout

A United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicle drives as residents who were displaced because of the hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel return to the Lebanese village of Khiam, near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, January 23, 2025. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher
A United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicle drives as residents who were displaced because of the hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel return to the Lebanese village of Khiam, near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, January 23, 2025. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher
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Hezbollah Urges Lebanese State to Push for Israel’s Pullout

A United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicle drives as residents who were displaced because of the hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel return to the Lebanese village of Khiam, near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, January 23, 2025. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher
A United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicle drives as residents who were displaced because of the hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel return to the Lebanese village of Khiam, near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, January 23, 2025. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher

Hezbollah said on Thursday that Israel has to completely withdraw from Lebanon as the 60-day period in a ceasefire deal comes to an end, adding that the Lebanese state should push for guarantee for the withdrawal.

The Iran-backed group also said in a statement that it was following developments and any breach to the agreement would not be accepted.

Israel and Hezbollah agreed in November to an American- and French-mediated ceasefire, bringing an end to more than a year of fighting. Under the deal, Israeli forces were to withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah forces were to withdraw from south of the Litani river over the 60-day period ending next Monday morning.

Hezbollah said in its statement that it was the Lebanese state’s responsibility to act and press the countries sponsoring the ceasefire agreement should Israel delay its military pullout from south Lebanon.

Caretaker National Defense Minister Maurice Sleem on Thursday met with acting Army Commander Major General Hassan Audi at his office in Yarzeh to discuss the situation in southern Lebanon and the implementation stages of the ceasefire arrangements.

Sleem reaffirmed Lebanon's firm position on the necessity of the Israeli troop withdrawal from the South in line with the ceasefire deadline of January 26.

Speaker Nabih Berri also discussed the matter with head of the Ceasefire Monitoring Committee, US General Jasper Jeffers, in Ain al-Tineh.

Discussions reportedly focused on developments on the Israeli withdrawal from remaining occupied territories in southern Lebanon, as well as Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement and UN Resolution 1701.