Israeli forces exchanged fire on Sunday with Palestinians barricaded in a house in the West Bank, killing two people, according to Israeli police and an activist group.
Israeli authorities said only that armed Palestinians were killed in clashes that lasted for hours before dawn in the city of Nablus.
The militant group Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said two Palestinians were killed in the house and that they were members of it.
No Israeli soldiers were injured, police said.
The two men killed were identified as Aboud Sobh, 29, and Muhammad Al-Azizi, 22, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, a humanitarian organization.
Six other people were injured, the Palestinian health ministry said.
A neighbor recalled hearing gunshots inside the house before the Israelis opened fire.
“They were calling a person’s name, asking him to surrender,” said 60-year-old Naser Estitya.
Part of the wall on the top floor of the house had been badly damaged, footage from the scene revealed.
“Another crime committed by the occupying forces in the old city of #Nablus, where martyrs have fallen and many injured,” wrote Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Palestinian official, in a tweet. “We strongly condemn this crime, and we hold the occupation [responsible] for its repercussions.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said the suspects were wanted for a series of shootings.
“We are not going to sit and wait for Israeli citizens to be harmed,” he told a cabinet meeting. “We will go out and harm the terrorists in their homes.”
A representative of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the violence, saying it was the result of Israel’s continued occupation of areas where Palestinians want to be part of an independent state.
“The region will remain in a cycle of violence until the end of the occupation and a just peace,” said the representative, Nabil Abu Rdeneh.
The Israeli army said a violent protest broke out as troops operated in Nablus. Protesters threw explosive devices at the soldiers and opened fire on them, Israel said. The soldiers returned fire, the army said.
The army said it was also operating in a separate area of the West Bank, where another exchange of gunfire took place.
In recent months, Israeli forces have carried out frequent raids in the occupied West Bank, which they have described as an attempt to end a series of street attacks by Palestinians against Israelis.
Israel faced armed resistance during some of these operations, several of which proved deadly.
Palestinian attacks on Israelis earlier this year have killed 19 people, while more than 60 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the start of 2022, according to an official Palestinian tally.
Many Palestinians want the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem – territories captured by Israel during the Six Day War in 1967 – for their own state.
US-led peace talks aimed at establishing a Palestinian state in these areas broke down in 2014 and have not been revived since.
With pole wires