JERUSALEM — Two Palestinian shooters were killed on Tuesday, Aug. 15, during an exchange of fire with Israeli forces near Jericho in the Jordan Valley.
The firefight broke out during an early morning Israeli arrest raid in the Aqbat Jabr camp, located southwest of Jericho.
The IDF said in a statement that “during the activity in the camp, suspects fired toward the Israel Border Police, who responded with live fire. Hits were identified.”
Palestinian sources identified the two fatalities as Kosai Amr Alwalji, 16, and Mohammad Rabhi Najum, 25.
They were both reportedly affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group.
Until two years ago, Najum worked as a lifeguard at Kibbutz Kalya, which is located near the northwestern shores of the Dead Sea next to Qumran National Park.
He was fired after arousing the suspicion of the security coordinator of the kibbutz, HaKol HaYehudi (Jewish Voice) reported.
“Two young men were rushed to the hospital with bullets in their chests,” the Jericho Hospital’s director told the Reuters news agency.
Residents told the news agency that the raid lasted less than an hour.
Israeli forces arrested the target of the raid, Muhammad Nasr Abu al-Asal, 20, at his home, according to Ynet, which cited the director of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club in Jericho, Eid Brahma.
Arrests were made and weapons were confiscated during overnight counterterror operations throughout the West Bank, the army said.
In addition to the suspect arrested in the Aqbat Jabr camp, another suspect was arrested in the town of Ein as-Sultan, also near Jericho.
Clashes also erupted during the Ein as-Sultan operation during which Israeli troops were attacked with firebombs and responded with .22 caliber rounds.
Three suspects were arrested in Silwad, northeast of Ramallah, and Israeli forces confiscated two airsoft guns, a handgun and an M-16 rifle. The Israeli troops were stoned as they withdrew following the arrest, according to the IDF.
Three additional suspects were arrested in Burqa near Nablus and in Hebron. Israeli forces were stoned in Yatta, near Hebron, as well, and responded with riot dispersal methods.
No Israeli casualties were reported during any of the operations.
Later Tuesday, the IDF confirmed that Palestinian terrorists launched a rocket from the Jenin area, adding that it found the remains of an improvised rocket and launcher, and that it was searching for the people who fired it.
The Hamas-affiliated Al-Ayyash Battalion claimed to have fired the rocket towards the Jewish community of Shaked in northern Samaria.
The group published a video purporting to show the rocket before the launch with a note in Arabic attached to it.
The launch came several weeks after a two-day military incursion into the Jenin refugee camp, where soldiers uncovered rocket factories and weapons caches.
Yair Ansbacher, fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, tied the rocket launch to Iranian strategy to expand its influence in West Bank.
“There’s a Shiite moon circling Israel through Lebanon, Syria, the western parts of Iraq and, of course, Gaza and Yemen. It’s not very new, but the Iranians have been trying very hard in the last four years to invest inside Judea and Samaria [the West Bank], and also among the parts of the Israeli Arabs who are anti-Zionist,” Ansbacher told TPS.
“Rockets are cheap, but if you have enough, they become strategic. They can hit Israeli cities,” Ansbacher stressed.
“Even more important is the psychological warfare. You want to make your enemy, in this case Israel, be afraid, to make them think that what’s happening in Lebanon and Gaza is happening now very close to major Israeli cities, to make everyone feel under the threat of rockets,” he noted.
Although Tuesday’s launch may succeed in making Israelis feel threatened, Ansbacher insisted it was not sign that July’s military operation in Jenin was a failure.
That incursion, he said, “broke the legend of Jenin. The IDF showed it’s like any other place and you can get in and get out,” adding that it is “understandable” that the terror groups are trying to show that they’re still around.
Since the operation, the Palestinian Authority has been trying to reassert its power in Jenin. Some Israelis have criticized the move, arguing that Mahmoud Abbas and the PA don’t have the ability to crack down on terror, while others believe the operation dealt a critical blow which Ramallah can follow up on.
“The truth is somewhere in the middle,” Ansbacher said.
“The PA is trying, but it’s not enough and probably the IDF will be there soon. It’s something that can be done and I think we will see them doing it again. I think we’ll see more operations in Jenin.”
TPS contributed to this report.
