MEE Staff
Middle East Eye / September 1, 2024
Three Israeli police officers were killed by a former Palestinian security member near Hebron/Al-Khalil. The suspect was later killed by Israeli forces.
Three Israeli police officers were killed on Sunday morning near Hebron/Al-Khalil in the occupied West Bank by a former member of the Palestinian Authority (PA) Presidential Guard.
According to the Israeli army, the suspect’s vehicle followed the car carrying the three officers. After the shooting, the officers lost control of their vehicle, with one officer killed at the scene and two declared dead en route to the hospital.
Sources speaking to Middle East Eye identified the assailant as Muhannad al-Asood, a resident of Idhna in Hebron/Al-Khalil, who was born in Jordan and a citizen of the country. Asood returned to his native West Bank in 1998 with his family after obtaining family reunification.
Asood was also a former member of the Palestinian Presidential Guard, resigned from his position in 2015 and was reportedly a member of Fatah which controls the PA.
Following the attack, he abandoned his car and fled on foot, according to Israeli reports.
Later on Sunday, the Israeli army and Shin Bet security service announced they had besieged a house in Hebron where the suspect involved in the shooting near the Tarqumiya checkpoint was hiding.
Israeli authorities informed the PA that they had killed the perpetrator of the Hebron attack.
This development comes as the Israeli army continues its invasion of cities and refugee camps in the northern West Bank as part of a military operation called “Summer Camps,” now in its fifth consecutive day.
The Israeli assault has expanded into Jenin and its refugee camp, sparking intense resistance from Palestinian factions in several neighbourhoods.
The occupying Israeli forces have tightened their siege on numerous towns in the Jenin area, as well as Tulkarm and the Nur Shams and Tulkarm camps.
Israeli forces have been deployed at the entrances to towns in the northern West Bank, particularly around the camps and in the Tulkarm and Jenin regions, restricting Palestinian movement within these areas.
This includes a comprehensive siege on Jenin, where many families from the camp have been forcibly displaced.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that the Israeli invasion of the northern West Bank has resulted in the deaths of 23 Palestinians – 14 in Jenin, 5 in Tulkarm, and 4 in Tubas – bringing the total number of Palestinians killed by Israel and its Jewish settlers since October 7 to 677
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/three-israeli-officers-killed-former-member-palestinian-authority
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‘Natural response’ – three Israeli police officers killed in operation near Hebron/Al-Khalil
TPC Staff
The Palestine Chronicle / September 1, 2024
The Israeli ambulance service reported that two police officers and border guards were killed immediately, while a third officer was seriously injured and later succumbed to his wounds.
The Israeli army announced that three of those killed were security forces and police officers who were on duty at the time of the attack. The vehicle used in the attack was found abandoned after the attackers managed to flee.
Israeli Army Radio said that the military had raided Idhna, close to the attack site.
Palestinian sources confirmed that Israeli reconnaissance drones were flying over the town of Tarqumiya and nearby areas northwest of Hebron as part of the search operation.
Al-Aqsa TV reported that large numbers of occupation forces stormed the town of Idhna following the operation.
The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed that its teams in Hebron were treating a person injured by live ammunition near the Tarqumiya checkpoint.
According to the Israeli radio station KAN, the attackers fired 11 bullets at the targeted vehicle near the Tarqumiya checkpoint. Additionally, Israeli Army Radio mentioned that the attackers fired from a distance of one kilometer from the checkpoint.
Video footage showed Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arriving at the scene of the shooting.
This follows another double operation targeting two settlements north of Hebron two days earlier, which left three Israelis injured, including the commander of the Etzion Brigade.
The operation also comes amid an ongoing Israeli offensive in the northern West Bank, now in its fifth day, which has resulted in the deaths of at least 22 Palestinians and the killing or wounding of Israeli soldiers in Jenin.
Natural response
In a statement, the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas said that “the Al-Khalil operation is a natural response to the crimes of the occupation against our people, and the resistance will only grow stronger and more fierce.”
“Our steadfast people, who are engaged in Al-Aqsa Flood battle, will continue the path of jihad (struggle) and resistance against the Zionist enemy, rejecting occupation, oppression, and aggression, until the liberation of Palestine,” the statement continued.
Hamas also called on the Palestinian people to rise and confront the Israeli “occupiers, who continue to commit massacres against our steadfast people in the Gaza Strip.”
“We call upon all cities, villages, and camps to rise up and ignite the fire of resistance against the occupation and block settler routes by all means,” the statement said.
