2023 Huwara shooting | |
---|---|
Part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict | |
Native name | פיגוע הירי בחווארה |
Location | Huwara, Israeli-occupied West Bank |
Date | 26 February 2023 13:40 (UTC+2) |
Target | Israelis |
Attack type | Mass shooting |
Weapons | M16 rifle |
Deaths | 2 victims |
Perpetrator | Hamas [1] [2] |
No. of participants | 1 |
On 26 February 2023, an unidentified person fatally shot two Israeli settlers in their car in Huwara, a town south of Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Following the shooting, Israeli settlers carried out revenge attacks on Palestinians, which have killed at least one Palestinian and injured around 100 others. On 7 March, one 49-year-old suspect was killed during an Israeli incursion into Jenin.
On 26 February 2023, four days after the incursion in Nablus, an unidentified attacker shot and killed two Israelis in a car near the Einbus intersection along Highway 60 in Huwara, south of Nablus. [3] [4] The attacker shot the two Israelis with an M16 rifle while they were driving [5] and then fled the scene on foot. [6]
Sources pointed to a Hamas gunman as the assailant, [7] [8] but no group claimed responsibility for the shooting. [3] On March 7, the suspected attacker, 49-year-old Abdel Fattah Hussein Kharousha, was killed along with five other Palestinians during an Israeli raid in Jenin. [9] [10] [11]
The two Israelis killed in the shooting were brothers named Hillel Menachem Yaniv and Yagel Ya’acov Yaniv. They were from the Har Brakha settlement, [12] and were described as yeshiva students. [13] One of the brothers had just completed his service in the Israeli Navy. [14]
Later on the same day, groups of Israeli settlers rioted in the region, carrying out revenge attacks. One Palestinian man was fatally shot in the abdomen in neighboring Za'tara. An analysis by journalists for +972 Magazine of 14 videos of the assault conducted by 40-50 settlers, who had returned to Za'tara after being repulsed the first time, concluded that the simultaneous attack on Za'atara in which Sameh Aqtesh was shot dead was conducted under Israeli army escort. [15] In Huwara itself, 98 Palestinians were injured as settlers torched Palestinian homes. [3] [14] [16]
Note: This compilation includes only those attacks that resulted in casualties. Attacks which did not kill or wound are not included.
Huwara or Howwarah is a Palestinian town located in the Nablus Governorate of the State of Palestine. Located in the northern Israeli-occupied West Bank, Huwara is on the main road connecting Nablus southwards to Ramallah and Jerusalem, approximately 4 miles (6 km) from Jacob's Well. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 6,659 in 2017.
Havat Gilad is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, which was established as an unauthorized outpost in 2002, after which it was dismantled by official forces and rebuilt by settlers several times until being granted legal status by the Israeli government in February 2018. The outpost was set up in 2002 in memory of Gilad Zar, son of Moshe Zar and security coordinator of the Shomron Regional Council, who was shot and killed in 2001.
The Jenin refugee camp, also known as the Jenin camp, is a Palestinian refugee camp located in the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank. It was established in 1953 to house Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes by Israeli forces during and in the aftermath of the 1948 Palestine War. The camp has since become a stronghold of Palestinian militants and has become known as "the martyr's capital" by Palestinians, and "the hornets' nest" by Israelis.
Events in the year 2002 in Israel.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades is a coalition of Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank. The organization has been designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the European Union, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States.
The following is a timeline of events during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2018.
The following is a timeline of events during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2020.
The following is a list of events during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2022.
On 7 April 2022, a mass shooting took place on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv, Israel. Three Israeli civilians were killed and 6 were injured.
Events in the year 2022 in the Palestinian territories.
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The following is a list of events during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2023, including the 2023 events of the Israel–Hamas war.
On 26 January 2023, the Israel Border Police and the Israeli army conducted an armed raid on the Jenin refugee camp, which is in Area A of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and under Palestinian civil authority. According to The Jerusalem Post, the objective was to prevent a planned terrorist strike and arrest three wanted Islamic Jihad militants.
On 22 February 2023, Israel conducted a military incursion into the Palestinian city of Nablus. After an undercover unit located the house in which two militants were believed to be residing, a firefight broke out, resulting in the deaths of 3 militants. Fighting between Israeli reinforcements and other militants left 4 suspected militants and 4 other Palestinians dead. A further 102 people suffered injuries.
On 26 February 2023, hundreds of Israeli settlers went on a violent late-night rampage in Huwara and other Palestinian villages in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, leaving one civilian dead and 100 other Palestinians injured, four critically, and the town ablaze. It was the worst attack stemming from Israeli settler violence in the northern West Bank in decades. The rampage followed the deadly attack in which two Israelis were murdered the same day by an unidentified attacker in the area.
On 3 April 2023, the Israeli army conducted a military operation in Nablus, resulting in the death of two Palestinians and injuries to several others. The operation was in response to allegations that two armed fighters were involved in the shooting of two Israeli settlers in Huwara in February.
On 3 July 2023, the Israeli military conducted a major assault on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. The Israeli government stated that the goal of the operation, named "Operation Home and Garden", was to target militants within the camp.