Early Sunday morning, two Palestinians lost their lives, and an Israeli soldier sustained moderate injuries during a firefight near Tulkarem in the West Bank, as reported by both Palestinian sources and the military.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) disclosed that they conducted an operation against terrorist infrastructure within the Nur Shams refugee camp in the city. During the operation, a command center and numerous explosive devices were destroyed. Gunmen engaged in exchanges of fire with IDF troops and detonated explosives against them. The IDF responded by firing at the assailants and confirmed hitting several of them.
The Palestinian health ministry confirmed that two Palestinians, Osaid Abu Ali (22) and Abd al-Rahman Abu Daghash (32), were killed by live bullets to the head. Meanwhile, an Israeli soldier suffered moderate injuries from shrapnel and was transported to a hospital for treatment.
The raid inflicted substantial damage on the camp’s main road, causing water pipe ruptures and flooding in parts of the street. The targeted building’s ground floor sustained heavy damage, and a portion of the second-floor exterior wall collapsed. Engineering forces were deployed by the army to detect and neutralize bombs planted beneath the pavement.
Violence has escalated in the region over the past 18 months, characterized by an increase in Palestinian shooting attacks against Israeli civilians and troops in the West Bank, frequent military arrest operations, and a surge in retaliatory attacks by extremist Jewish settlers against Palestinians.
Since the beginning of the year, Palestinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank have resulted in the deaths of 27 civilians and three soldiers, along with several seriously wounded individuals. During the same period, The Times of Israel reported that 189 West Bank and East Jerusalem Palestinians were killed, primarily during clashes with security forces or while carrying out attacks. However, some casualties were uninvolved civilians, and others were killed in unclear circumstances, often involving armed Israeli settlers.
The IDF recently announced the closure of border crossings between Israel and the West Bank during Yom Kippur, starting on Sunday, with plans to reopen them on Tuesday after reassessment. Additionally, the Erez Crossing with the Gaza Strip has remained closed since September 15 due to ongoing disturbances on the Israeli border, with its reopening contingent on actions taken by the Hamas terror group to quell the violence, according to Israeli officials.