On Sunday, September 1st, Palestinian militants opened fire on a car in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, killing three Israeli police officers. In recent days, Israel has launched a large-scale military operation in the area.
According to reports from the Associated Press, the attack took place on a road in the southern part of the West Bank. Palestinian militant attacks have mainly focused on the city areas and refugee camps in the northern part of the West Bank, where Israeli forces have been engaging with militants almost daily since the outbreak of the Gaza War.
Israeli authorities confirmed that the three victims were all police officers, and the attackers have fled the scene.
Police stated that one of the slain officers was Roni Shakuri, 61 years old, from the southern Israeli town of Sderot near the Gaza border. His daughter Mor, who was also a police officer, lost her life in a previous attack last October 7th when Hamas militants attempted to take over the police station in Sderot amidst the fighting.
An armed organization calling itself the Khalil al-Rahman Brigade, not widely known, claimed responsibility for the shooting incident on Sunday.
Later in the evening, Israeli troops surrounded a residence in the nearby city of Hebron, where the suspect of the attack was believed to be hiding. At least six soldiers entered the house, firing multiple rounds and throwing a grenade inside before carrying out the body of a man on a stretcher.
The military later confirmed that the deceased was the gunman from the morning attack, and an M-16 automatic rifle was found on his person. They also disclosed that the man had served in the Palestinian Authority’s security forces.
Violent incidents in the West Bank have surged since the Gaza War was triggered by the attack on October 7th last year.
Over 650 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, mainly during Israeli military raids for arrests. Most of the casualties seem to be armed militants engaging in gunfire with Israeli forces, but among the deceased are also civilian bystanders and protesters throwing stones.
In the past 10 months, there has been an increase in violence between local civilians, including violent acts by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and attacks by Palestinians on Israelis.
Israel occupies the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem since the 1967 Middle East War. Palestinians aspire to have these territories as part of their future state, but the last peace negotiations collapsed 15 years ago.
Israel has established over a hundred settlements throughout the West Bank, some resembling suburbs and towns, where over half a million Israeli citizens reside with Israeli citizenship.
The West Bank is home to approximately 3 million Palestinians who live under Israeli military control, while the Western-backed Palestinian Authority exercises limited autonomy over population centers.