At least three Palestinians killed, including two intelligence officers, in an earlier Israeli incursion into the city of Jenin, occupied the West Bank.
Israeli forces have shot dead at least three Palestinians, including two Palestinian Authority (PA) military intelligence officers, in a previous raid on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, authorities said Thursday Palestinians.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the two agents as Adham Yasser Alawi, 23, and Tayseer Issa, 32, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, adding that the third victim was Jamil al-Amuri. who had been imprisoned in Israeli prisons.
Another Palestinian officer, Muhammad al-Bazour, 23, was critically wounded during the Israeli secret mission and has been taken to an Israeli hospital, according to Wafa.
An online video to which the Associated Press had access appears to show Palestinian officers charging themselves behind a vehicle as they hear gunfire in the background. A call to exchange fire with “covert” Israeli forces.
Israeli media reported that al-Amuri was a former prisoner and member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but this has not yet been confirmed by Palestinian officials.
According to reports from occupied Jerusalem, Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett said the incident was “a covert operation on a civilian vehicle.”
“It is understood that they (Israeli forces) were targeting at least one member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“One boy was killed in this operation and another was wounded and taken away by Israeli forces. It is understood that the dead man was a member of the PIJ,” Fawcett said.
The second man reportedly taken away was a Palestinian named Wissam Abu Zaid. He was reportedly arrested during the operation.
“Dangerous Israeli climbing”
A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned what he called a “dangerous Israeli escalation,” saying the three were killed by Israeli special forces disguising themselves as Palestinians during the raids.
Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaina called on the international community and the United States to intervene to stop these attacks.
There are conflicting reports on the details of the incident.
The Israeli military and police did not immediately respond to requests for comment. However, an Israeli official told the Reuters news agency anonymously that Palestinian officials died in the crossfire.
“Witnesses on the ground say that Israeli forces also fired on members of the Palestinian military intelligence: officers who were there near the scene, outside their own security building,” said Fawcett, of Al Jazeera.
“Israeli media reports speak of Israelis firing in their direction again, but whatever happened, it is known that two of these military intelligence officers were killed and a third was critically wounded and went be taken to an Israeli hospital.
“This is another case of Palestinian military intelligence officers killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank,” he added.
According to the interim peace agreements signed in the 1990s, the PA has limited autonomy in scattered enclaves that together account for about 40 percent of the occupied West Bank. Israel has a general security authority in the West Bank and routinely conducts arrest raids on PA-administered Palestinian cities and towns.
According to the 1993 Oslo Accords, the AP is forced to share information with Israel on any armed resistance to the Israeli occupation in a practice known as “security coordination” suspended briefly last year after the Israeli plan to annex the occupied West Bank.
Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, has criticized the PA for so-called “security coordination.” Many Hamas members have been arrested because of the PA’s cooperation with Israeli authorities.
Israeli forces often carry out raids in the occupied West Bank. On May 25, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian during such an incursion near Ramallah.
Palestinian media reported that after the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Jenin, Israel deployed reinforcements at the northern entrance to the Palestinian city.
Funeral processions for the three murdered Palestinians will be held Thursday later. A general strike has also been called in Palestinian cities.
The incident comes weeks after a fragile peace was agreed after an 11-day Israeli war against besieged Gaza, which left more than 250 Palestinians dead, including 66 children.
At least 12 people were killed in Israel in rocket attacks by Palestinian armed factions.