Israel stages deadly raid in West Bank's Nablus, killing high-profile Palestinian commander and triggering new escalation

Israel has launched a deadly raid into the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday, killing a high-profile Palestinian militants and two others, and injuring at least 44 local residents, less than 24 hours after the end of its operation in Gaza against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad that killed and injured dozens, mostly civilians.

The new round of unilateral Israeli escalation against Palestinian factions, this time in the West Bank, raises questions about the purpose and timing of the violence that could trigger a Palestinian response and a new round of violence. While Israel justifies such activities under the catch-all pretext of fighting 'terrorists', some have linked the escalation to the Israeli election next month in which the sitting prime minister Yair Lapid needs to shore up his military credentials against a Netanyahu comeback.

The men were 26-year-old Ibrahim Nabulsi, 25-year-old Islam Suboh and teenager 16-year-old Jamal Taha. All three are militants wanted by Israeli forces for months, while Palestinians are mourning them as heroes of armed resistance against occupation.
 
“Israeli forces entered Nablus around 7:00 am and surrounded the old city, and then engaged in a heavy gunfight with fighters entrenched in the area”, Ameen Abu Wardeh, a local journalist and resident of Nablus told The New Arab.
 
“The shootout continued for more than two hours, during which Israeli forces blocked all entries to the old city”, he said. “Medical crews were unable to evacuate the injured until Israeli forces withdrew”, he added.

Al-Aqsa Brigades pronounce martyrdom of Ibrahim Nabulsi after months of chasing 🥀#ابراهيم_النابلسي #غزة_تنتصر pic.twitter.com/v3HHH5KjQw

— • حور𓂆ء نقوی • | ‏خُمَيْنِيّون ☫🇵🇸 (@HawraaNaqvi) August 9, 2022

Israeli media first reported that Israeli forces had killed Ibrahim Nabulsi, a commander of Al-Aqsa Brigades, Fatah’s armed wing, who had been on the run for months. Fatah is the main constituent party of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and officially affiliated to President Mahmoud Abbas.

Although Al-Aqsa Brigades are formed of Fatah militants, they don't follow Fatah's political leadership. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who is also Fatah's supreme leader, officially dissolved Al-Aqsa Brigades in 2005 and has repeatedly opposed Palestinian armed activism in general.
 
Israeli media reports quoted the Israeli army saying that its soldiers surrounded a house and engaged in a gunfight with Palestinian militants, before targeting the house with shoulder-launched missiles and killing the three men.
 
Suboh and Taha died on the spot, while Nabulsi was transferred to a local hospital in Nablus city, but efforts to revive him failed, according to the health ministry.

المطارد إبراهيم النابلسي أثناء محاصرته من قبل الاحتلال الإسرائيلي في نابلس الآن يُرسل تسجيلاً صوتياً لشباب فلسطين " حافظوا على الوطن يا شباب , لا تتركوا السلاح , أنا محاصر الآن ولكنني لن اترك السلاح سأقاتل حتى ارتقي شهيداً" .. pic.twitter.com/6oYrLsbNyX

— أدهم أبو سلمية #غزة_العزة 🇵🇸 (@adham922) August 9, 2022

 A voice recording circulated in Palestinian social media accounts, said to be sent by Nabulsi to local journalists minutes before his death. “Tell my mother that I love her, protect the homeland and by your honour, never drop your rifles”, the voice message recording said. The New Arab could not verify its authenticity.
 
Later in the morning, mosques’ loud-speakers in Nablus announced the death of Nabulsi and two of his fellow gunmen, Suboh and Taha, and declared a general strike in the city as a sign of mourning.
 
“All businesses are closed for the day, as well as government and non-government institutions”, pointed out Abu Wardeh. “Even Al-Najah university suspended all exams for the day”, he noted.

Ibrahim Nablsi's body welcomed by hundreds of people in #Nablus

He was killed in the city of Nablus during a confrontation with Israeli soldiers.#ابراهيم_النابلسي #غزة_تحت_القصف #GazaUnderAttack #Gaza pic.twitter.com/BoDKrmP7uh

— Koshish Bestani (@Koshish_Bestani) August 9, 2022

Nablus has been at the center of Israeli-Palestinian rounds of escalation in recent months. Local gunmen repeatedly clashed with Israeli forces, who escort Israeli settlers into religious sites in the city in almost-weekly night raids.
 
Israel ramped-up its crack-down on Nablus in recent weeks. In late July, Israeli forces killed two Palestinian militants after four hours of a gunfight that was described by local residents as the most violent in twenty years.
 
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned the Israeli raid, calling it “a massacre”, and warning Israel of unspecified “consequences".
 
With Nabulsi, Suboh and Taha, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of 2022 reached 129, out of whom 46 were killed in Israeli bombing on the Gaza Strip over the weekend.