Three Israeli police officers were killed on September 1 in a shooting attack in the West Bank By Reuters
(This Sept. 1 story has been corrected to correct the number of Israelis killed, in sections 15 and 16)
Written by James Mackenzie and Ali Sawafta
JERUSALEM – Three Israeli police officers were killed on Sunday when their vehicle came under fire near the West Bank city of Hebron, Israeli officials said, adding to days of violence in the Palestinian territories.
After the attack in the Idna Tarqumiyah Junction area, security forces surrounded a house in Hebron and killed a Palestinian suspected of being the shooter, the army said.
Hundreds of Israeli soldiers have been storming the West Bank since last Wednesday in one of its biggest operations in the area in recent months, which Israel says aims to root out Islamic militants backed by Iran.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported on Sunday that two Palestinian brothers were shot dead by Israeli forces in the town of Kafr Dan, outside Jenin in the northern West Bank, where Israeli forces have been operating since Wednesday.
The deployment of troops and police across the West Bank has underscored the enormous pressure facing Israeli forces who are now fighting on multiple fronts, with little sign of success in ceasefire talks in Gaza.
“We are fighting on all sides against a brutal enemy who wants to kill us all,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking to six Israeli hostages who were killed in deportations to Gaza and whose bodies were found in a tunnel on Sunday.
As he spoke, Israeli forces were still operating in Jenin, where the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups said their fighters were fighting each other.
HUGE DAMAGE
The operation, now in its fifth day, has caused extensive damage to the city's infrastructure and the nearby refugee camp, a densely populated township, with many houses and buildings damaged and dozens of roads torn up by armored tractors hunting for roadside bombs.
At least 24 Palestinians, most of whom are claimed by Hamas or Islamic Jihad, have been killed since the start of the Israeli campaign.
Israeli forces arrested 110 people, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Association.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a staunch member of Israel's security cabinet, called for more action against Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank.
“We must do now what we did not do that terrible night and launch the first strike and hit terrorism hard,” he said, referring to the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.
“We are committed to ending terrorism on all fronts,” he said, speaking at the scene on Sunday.
At least 34 Israeli soldiers and civilians were killed in Palestinian attacks and clashes with Palestinians outside Gaza and northern Israel in the period from Oct. 7 to the end of August, according to statistics from the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security agency.
The figure does not include at least 47 Israeli soldiers and civilians killed in an attack by Iran-backed Hezbollah based in southern Lebanon, according to the Alma Research and Education Center, a think tank in northern Israel.
During the same period, Israeli forces killed approximately 680 Palestinians, including armed fighters, stone-throwing youths and unaffiliated civilians.
Hamas, which is at war with Israel in Gaza, praised the attack in the West Bank, but did not say so, saying it was “a natural response to the killings and massacres in the Gaza Strip”.
“We ask all those who carry weapons to aim their bullets at the chests of the residents who continue to kill our people in the Gaza Strip,” said the statement.
Israel denies committing acts of genocide in the Gaza conflict, which was triggered by Hamas' October 7 strike on Israel.
(Reporting by Ali Sawafta from Ramallah; Additional reporting by Steven Scheer in Jerusalem; Editing by William Mallard, Mark Potter, Sharon Singleton, Philippa Fletcher)
