Ten Palestinians injured as Israeli forces storm West Bank city of Nablus

Israeli forces stormed the West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday morning, injuring 10 Palestinians and detaining five others.

The Israeli forces surrounded the city before storming it and targeting resistance fighters with explosive devices, The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

Dozens of military vehicles then entered the city from the Deir Sharaf checkpoint in the west and the Hawara checkpoint in the south, as Israeli snipers spread out over the roofs of buildings surrounding the city and reconnaissance planes filled the skies.

Israeli forces clashed with young Palestinians in Nablus's old city before withdrawing.

The 10 injured Palestinians – five of whom were shot with live bullets – were transferred to Nablus's Rafidia Hospital, the Palestinian Red Cresent said in a statement.

Two of the injured are journalists, Nasser Shtayyeh and Hassan Qamhieh, local sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Two Palestinian journalists were wounded by live bullets from an Israeli sniper in the city of Nablus in
occupied Palestine a few minutes ago.The tactic of Israeli occupying forces targeting journalists continues, even after the assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh.#IsraeliCrimes pic.twitter.com/kb0bLhczYP

— Embassy of the State of Palestine in Cyprus (@PalestineEmbCy) January 12, 2023

Nablus is considered a stronghold of the Palestinian group 'Lions' Den', which has emerged in recent months to resist Israeli attacks on Palestinian cities.

The swearing-in last month of one of the most right-wing governments in Israeli history, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, has sparked fears of a military escalation in the West Bank, a territory Israel has occupied since the Six-Day War of 1967.

Last year was the deadliest in the occupied West Bank since United Nations records began in 2005, with more than 150 Palestinians killed, the world body said in December.