The Palestinian health ministry said an Israeli army raid in Nablus on Wednesday killed 11 Palestinians, including a teenager, in the deadliest escalation in the occupied West Bank since 2005.
According to the Palestinian ministry, more than 80 Palestinians were shot in what the Israeli army called a “counter-terrorism” operation, causing international concern and calls for calm.
Hussein Al Sheikh, a top Palestinian official, called the incursion a “massacre” and demanded “international protection for our people.”
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.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said “the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory is at its most combustible in years”, with tensions “sky high” as “the peace process remains stalled.”
“Our immediate priority must be to prevent further escalation, reduce tensions and restore calm,” Guterres told the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.
The death toll surpassed that of an Israeli army raid last month in Jenin, further north, which had been the deadliest West Bank operation since the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, of 2000 to 2005.
The Israeli military said one of the wanted suspects who had fled the building was “neutralised”, along with two others who had opened fire at the property.
The suspects and Israeli forces “exchanged fire… 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 hurled at the troops, the army said.
The Palestinian health ministry said those killed “as a result of the occupation’s aggression on Nablus” were aged between 16 and 72.
Hours after the raid, the ministry announced the death of a 66-year-old man of tear gas inhalation.
A further 82 people were admitted to hospitals with gunshot wounds, Palestinian health officials said.
Mostafa Shaheen, a Nablus resident, said “soldiers… besieged the whole area” at around 9:30 am (0730 GMT).
“We kept hearing the explosions and gunfire,” he told AFP.
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”.
The Gaza-based group’s leader Ziad al-Nakhala called the raid a “major crime” that “the resistance must respond to.”
The Lions’ Den, a militant group based in Nablus, said six of those killed were members of various Palestinian factions.
Troops withdrew from the city after three hours, an AFP journalist said.
Hailing the forces’ “courage”, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Twitter Israel’s “long arm” will reach “any terrorist.”
In the afternoon, a huge crowd of mourners including armed men gathered in central Nablus as well as in the nearby Balata refugee camp for the funerals of 10 of those killed, AFP correspondents said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its medics had treated 250 cases of tear gas inhalation and dozens of gunshot wounds.