On March 9, three fighters of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) were shot dead by undercover Israeli police officers during a raid in the northern West Bank village of Jaba’.
A spokesman for the Israel Border Police said that the officers entered Jaba’ to arrest two Palestinian men wanted for a series of shooting attacks against Israeli forces in the area and the nearby Israeli outpost of Homesh. During the raid, the two wanted men and another gunman opened fire from their vehicle at the officers, who returned fire, killing them.
The police named Ahmed Fashafsha, 22, and Sufyan Fakhoury, 30, as the wanted PIJ members, and Nayef Malaysha, 25, as the third gunman. All three were released from an Israeli prison last month. Several firearms and explosives were found in the men’s vehicle.
The local wing of the PIJ said that three of its members had been killed in what it called a “cowardly assassination operation.”
During the raid, PIJ fighters in Jaba’ opened fire at Israeli police officers and managed to shoot down a Skylark I drone. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that a drone had crashed in the village, but said the circumstances were still under investigation.
The hand-launched Skylark I drone was developed by Elbit Systems for tactical surveillance and reconnaissance. The drone has a range of 20-40 kilometers.
The raid in Jaba’ came just two days after an Israeli operation in the Jenin refugee camp, which is located to the north. The operation left six Palestinians dead and wounded at least 12 others. Three officers from an elite Israeli police unit were also wounded. In addition, two drones were shot down.
Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have been on the rise for around a year now. Israeli forces conduct raids and operations in the occupied West Bank, while Palestinians carry out shooting, ramming and stabbing attacks on a nearly-daily basis.
Source: South Front
