10 Palestinians Killed, Dozens Shot in Israel West Bank Raid

Palestinians clash with Israeli forces amid a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, on February 22, 2023. (AFP)
Palestinians clash with Israeli forces amid a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, on February 22, 2023. (AFP)
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10 Palestinians Killed, Dozens Shot in Israel West Bank Raid

Palestinians clash with Israeli forces amid a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, on February 22, 2023. (AFP)
Palestinians clash with Israeli forces amid a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, on February 22, 2023. (AFP)

Israeli troops killed 10 Palestinians Wednesday in a raid on the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, while more than 80 suffered gunshot wounds, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The Israeli army said the raid targeted militant suspects "in a hideout apartment" accused of shootings in the West Bank. It added troops came under live fire but suffered no casualties.

Top Palestinian official Hussein Al Sheikh decried the incursion as a "massacre" and called for "international protection for our people".

The death toll is equal to that of an Israeli army raid last month in Jenin, further north, which was the deadliest West Bank operation since at least 2005.

The Israeli military said that one of the suspects was shot while fleeing, while the two others were killed at the property.

The suspects and Israeli forces "exchanged fire and at some point, we upgraded our efforts. There were also rockets that were fired on the house" by the army, spokesman Richard Hecht told journalists.

Rocks, explosive devices and Molotov cocktails were thrown at the troops, an earlier army statement said.

The Palestinian health ministry said those killed "as a result of the occupation's aggression on Nablus" were aged between 16 and 72.

'Heinous'

A further 82 people were admitted to multiple hospitals with gunshot wounds, Palestinian health officials said.

Mostafa Shaheen, a Nablus resident, said he was surprised to hear explosions at around 9:30 am (0730 GMT).

"A large number of soldiers stormed the area and besieged the whole area," he told AFP. "We kept hearing the explosions and gunfire."

Huge crowds gathered outside Nablus's Rafidia hospital, waiting for news of dozens of casualties being treated at the facility.

The wounded include Palestine TV journalist Mohammed Al Khatib, who was shot in the hand, his colleague told AFP.

The Islamic Jihad militant group said one of its commanders was killed "in a heroic battle against the Israeli occupation army and its special forces".

The Lions' Den, a local band of fighters, said six of those killed were militants from various factions.

Troops withdrew from the city after three hours, an AFP journalist said.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its medics had treated 250 cases of tear gas inhalation and dozens of gunshot wounds.

The Arab League said the raid amounted to a "heinous crime".

"The occupation authorities and the far-right Israeli government are responsible for this horrible massacre," said Saeed Abu Ali, the Arab League's assistant secretary-general for Palestinian affairs.

'Ominous signs'

The latest deadly Israeli incursion follows an appeal by the United Nations Middle East peace envoy, Tor Wennesland, for the violence to be halted as an "urgent priority".

"We have seen ominous signs of what awaits if we fail to address the current instability," he told the UN Security Council on Monday.

Since the start of this year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 59 Palestinian adults and children, including militants and civilians.

Nine Israeli civilians, including three children, one Ukrainian civilian and a police officer have been killed over the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Saturday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and separately with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, calling on both to "restore calm".

Last month's visit by Washington's top envoy to Israel and the Palestinian territories has been followed by further violence and rifts between officials.

Israel has occupied the Palestinian territory since the Six-Day War of 1967.

Last year was the deadliest year in the territory since the United Nations started tracking casualties in 2005.



US Envoy Reaffirms Backing for Damascus, Rules Out ‘Plan B’

US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
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US Envoy Reaffirms Backing for Damascus, Rules Out ‘Plan B’

US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

The United States will keep backing Syria’s government and has no “Plan B” to working with it to unite the war‑scarred country back together, still reeling from years of civil war and wracked by new sectarian violence, US envoy Tom Barrack said on Monday.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Barrack – Washington’s ambassador to Türkiye and special envoy for Syria, who is also on a short assignment in Lebanon – called last week’s Israeli strikes inside Syria “badly timed” and said they had “complicated efforts to stabilize the region.”

Barrack spoke in Beirut after more than a week of clashes in Sweida province between Druze militiamen and Sunni Bedouin tribes.

Over the weekend he brokered what he described as a limited ceasefire between Syria and Israel, aimed only at halting the fighting in Sweida. Syrian government troops have since redeployed in the area and evacuated civilians from both communities on Monday, he said.

Barrack told the AP that “the killing, the revenge, the massacres on both sides” are “intolerable,” but that “the current government of Syria, in my opinion, has conducted themselves as best they can as a nascent government with very few resources to address the multiplicity of issues that arise in trying to bring a diverse society together.”

Regarding Israel’s strikes on Syria, Barrack said: “The United States was not asked, nor did they participate in that decision, nor was it the United States’ responsibility in matters that Israel feels is for its own self-defense.”

However, he said Israel’s intervention “creates another very confusing chapter” and “came at a very bad time.”

Prior to the violence in Sweida, Israel and Syria had been in talks over security matters, while the Trump administration had been pushing them to move toward full normalization of diplomatic relations.

When the latest fighting erupted, “Israel’s view was that south of Damascus was this questionable zone, so that whatever happened militarily in that zone needed to be agreed upon and discussed with them,” Barrack said. “The new government (in Syria) coming in was not exactly of that belief.”

The ceasefire announced Saturday between Syria and Israel is a limited agreement addressing only the conflict in Sweida, he said. It does not address broader issues including Israel’s contention that the area south of Damascus should be a demilitarized zone.

In the discussions leading up to the ceasefire, Barrack said “both sides did the best they can” to reach agreement on specific questions related to the movement of Syrian forces and equipment from Damascus to Sweida.

He suggested that Israel would prefer to see Syria fragmented and divided rather than a strong central state in control of the country.

Later Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on X that Israel’s strikes “were the only way to stop the massacre of the Druze in Syria, the brothers of our brothers the Israeli Druze”.

Katz added: “Anyone who criticizes the attacks is unaware of the facts,” he continued. It was not clear if he was responding to Barrack’s comments.

Damascus has been negotiating with the Kurdish forces that control much of northeast Syria to implement an agreement that would merge the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces with the new national army.