Palestinian officials reported that three Palestinians died in an Israeli raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank early Monday morning. The Biden administration, meanwhile, condemned Israel’s latest settlement expansion.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry the three men died during an attack in Balata, near Nablus. The ministry reported that six people were injured, including a person in critical condition.
Later, the army confirmed that soldiers raided Balata. It said troops were fired upon and killed three Palestinians. Israel has increased raids to counter a wave of Palestinian attacks. It said that Monday’s operation netted weapons, explosives and a manufacturing facility in a house which they detonated.
The Biden administration released a strongly worded statement Sunday, criticizing Israel’s move to reestablish settlements at the former evacuated outpost Homesh in the northern West Bank.
In March, Israel repealed the 2005 law that demolished four West Bank settlements. The top Israeli general in the West Bank issued an order over the weekend attaching Homesh with a local settlement regional council, paving the road for the reconstruction of the outpost.
Mathew Mille, spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said that Israel’s policy towards the outpost on the occupied territory was illegal.
Miller expressed Washington’s concern about the visit of ultranationalist National S.S. Minister Itmar Ben Gvir to the Temple Mount – the holiest place in Judaism. Al-Aqsa Mosque is located on the contested site, which is the third-holiest place in Islam.
Miller stated in a statement that “this holy space shouldn’t be used for politics, and we ask all parties to respect it”.
Israeli soldiers during a raid at the Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus early on Monday.
Zain Jaafar / AFP – Getty Images
According to long-standing agreements, Jews may visit the site but are not allowed to pray. In recent years, however, an increasing number of Jewish visitors began to pray quietly, which sparked fears among Palestinians about Israel’s plot to divide the site or seize it. Ben-Gvir, who has called for greater Jewish access since the 1970s, continues to do so.
Ben-Gvir had visited the hilltop compound on Sunday morning, announcing that “we are the ones in charge”, while the Israeli cabinet held a meeting in Jerusalem Old City in order to celebrate their control over the area. Ben-Gvir’s visit was condemned by the Palestinians as well as Israel’s neighbour, Jordan.
Ben-Gvir is Israel’s Minister of National Security, and oversees the police force. He was previously convicted for inciting hatred and supporting a Jewish terrorist group.
Since the spring of 2022, Israelis have killed more than 250 Palestinians. Around 50 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks.
Israel claims that most of the Palestinians who were killed in the clashes were militants. However, youths throwing stones and protesting against the incursions as well as people not involved with the clashes also died.
Jerusalem Day is a celebration of Israel’s 1967 Mideast War victory, when it captured east Jerusalem and the Old City. Some nationalists chanted racist anti-Arab slogans as they marched down the main Palestinian thoroughfare of Jerusalem’s Old City. Meanwhile, hundreds of Jews gathered at the hilltop shrine.
Israel captured both the West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip during the Mideast War of 1967. The Palestinians want to use those territories as the capital of a future independent nation, with east Jerusalem. Israel annexed East Jerusalem, a move that was not recognized by the majority of the international community. It considers it its permanent undivided capital.
The tensions in the compound at issue have been the cause of previous rounds of violence.
The ultra-Orthodox parties and the far-right nationalists are part of Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government in Israel, which is the most extreme in its history. West Bank settlement building has been given top priority by Benjamin Netanyahu.
The majority of the international community believes that Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the West Bank, which are home to 700 000 people, are illegal and an obstacle to peace.
In the Gaza Strip, there were also clashes between Israel and militants earlier this month. Israeli airstrikes killed 33 people, including women and children. In Israel, militant rocket fire killed two people.
