Israeli forces on Saturday arrested those suspected of killing a guard at an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, an attack claimed by a Palestinian group in response to violence in Jerusalem.
On Friday night, two assailants shot dead Vyacheslav Golev, a 23-year-old guard outside one of the entrances to the Jewish settlement of Ariel, located in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. disclosed the identity of the victim.
“Following intense intelligence and operational activity by the Shin Bet (internal security agency), the special forces and the army detained the two suspects,” police said.
The two suspects, who were armed, were arrested in the Palestinian town of Qarawat Bani Hassan, northwest of Ariel, the army said.
“No terrorist will escape us,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett declared after the news broke.
The attack was claimed on Saturday by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed branch of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party.
“We claim responsibility for the heroic operation in the Ariel colony in which a Zionist officer (Israeli, ndlr) died. It was carried out in response to the violations committed by the occupation government in Jerusalem,” said a statement from the group.
It is an allusion to the clashes between Israeli and Palestinian police that for two weeks have left nearly 300 Palestinian wounded around the Esplanade of the Mosques in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian sector of the Holy City occupied and annexed by Israel.
The Esplanade of the Mosques is considered the third holy place for Muslims and the holiest for Jews, under its name “Temple Mount”.
For its part, Hamas threatened on Saturday with attacks on synagogues and a “great battle” if Israeli forces returned to provoke clashes in the Al Aqsa mosque (which is part of the recent Mosque Esplanade).
“Whoever makes the decision to repeat this scene will carry with them the decision to destroy thousands of synagogues in the world,” said Yahya Sinwar, Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip.
– Reinforced presence –
In the northern West Bank, soldiers have detained “terrorist suspects” and seized weapons in the Palestinian town of Bruqin west of Ariel, and in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, the army said.
The Army designates as “terrorists” Palestinians suspected of carrying out attacks or helping to carry them out.
Dozens of Palestinians participated on Saturday in the funeral of a Palestinian who died during an Israeli army operation in the town of Azzun, about 20 km from the Ariel settlement.
Questioned by AFP, an army spokeswoman said that the operation in Azzun is linked to the “search for the terrorists responsible for the Ariel attack.”
The Palestinian Wafa news agency identified the deceased as Yahya Adwan, 27.
– Attacks and retaliation –
Death of guard in Israeli West Bank settlement brings to 15 the number killed in anti-Israeli attacks since March 22, including an Arab-Israeli policeman and two Ukrainians
Two of the attacks were committed in Tel-Aviv by Palestinians from the West Bank.
Following those attacks, the Israeli army carried out several operations in the West Bank, marked by bloody clashes.
Since then, a total of 27 Palestinians and three Israeli Arabs have been killed (including the perpetrators of the attacks) in clashes with Israeli forces.
Some 475,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, in settlements considered illegal under international law. More than 2.8 million Palestinians also live in this territory
