- Title: Israeli troops kill four Hamas members in West Bank raids: military
- Date: 26th September 2021
- Summary: BEIT ANAN, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 26, 2021) (REUTERS) PALESTINIANS THROWING STONES AT ISRAELI MILITARY VEHICLE ISRAELI MILITARY VEHICLES DRIVING AWAY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN RESIDENT, AYIESH SHAMASNEH, SAYING: "We were sleeping, it was around 3:45 A.M., I heard a helicopter in the valley I checked during the dark. Then I saw a flare and I heard three to four gunshots." VARIOUS OF MEN CHECKING THE SCENE AFTER THE ISRAELI ARMY LEFT VARIOUS OF BROKEN DOOR
- Embargoed: 10th October 2021 08:55
- Keywords: Israel Palestinians West Bank raid violence
- Location: BEIT ANAN, WEST BANK / GAZA CITY, GAZA
- City: BEIT ANAN, WEST BANK / GAZA CITY, GAZA
- Country: Palestinian Occupied Territory
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Middle East
- Reuters ID: LVA001EWCWE9Z
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Israeli troops killed at least four Hamas militants in gun battles during raids on Sunday (September 26) against one of the group's cells in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli military spokesman said.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said three Palestinians were killed in the West Bank village of Beit Anan, northwest of Jerusalem. It said another Palestinian was killed in Burqin, a village near the Palestinian city of Jenin.
An Israeli military spokesperson said troops carried out five raids in the West Bank "in order to stop a Hamas terrorist organisation cell from operating" and launching attacks.
Four others were arrested, the spokesperson said.
En route to New York, where he addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Monday (September 27), Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the operation was aimed against Hamas men "about to carry out terrorist attacks".
Israeli officials have long voiced concern that Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, intends to gain strength in the West Bank and challenge its rival, the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).
The incidents in the early hours of Sunday marked the most serious confrontations between Israel and Hamas in the West Bank in months and threatened to raise tensions in the territory and along the Israeli border with Gaza.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah party lost control of Gaza to Hamas in internal fighting in 2007, accused Israel in a statement of "field executions against our people".
(Production: Ali Sawafta, Mohamed Torokman, Mustafa Abu Ganeyeh) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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