Israeli forces kill two Palestinian gunmen in West Bank arrest raid

Recasts for gunmen slain

RAMALLAH, West Bank, April 3 (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed two Palestinian gunmen during a clash in the occupied West Bank on Monday, militant factions and medics said, and the army said it launched the incursion to detain suspects in connection with a drive-by ambush last month.

The were no military casualties in Nablus, a city that has been a focus of intensified raids by Israel following a spate of Palestinian street attacks in its cities last year.

The Lion’s Den, a coalition of Palestinian gunmen active in Nablus and elsewhere in the northern West Bank, said one of its members was killed while battling the troops. The second slain gunman was claimed by the Palestinian faction Fatah.

The Israeli military said it arrested two people in Nablus suspected of assisting a Palestinian who carried out a March 25 drive-by shooting in the West Bank that wounded two soldiers.

The car used in that attack was also seized, the military statement said.

Around 90 Palestinians, including gunmen and civilians, have been killed by Israeli forces in 2023, the Palestinian health ministry said. Fifteen Israelis and a Ukrainian have died in Palestinian attacks, Israel’s foreign ministry said.

(Writing by Dan Williams and Ali Sawafta; Editing by Conor Humphries and Hugh Lawson)

((dan.williams@thomsonreuters.com; +972 (0) 2 6322202; Reuters Messaging: dan.williams.reuters.com@reuters.net))

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