Palestinian gunmen who shot dead British mum and two daughters in West Bank attack killed by Israeli special forces
4 May 2023, 08:26 | Updated: 4 May 2023, 09:34
Israeli forces today killed two Palestinian gunmen who killed a British-Israeli mother and her daughters in the West Bank in April, Israel's domestic security service said.
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A third militant who helped the two gunmen was also killed in the raid, in which multiple assault rifles were recovered, Israel's Shin Bet service said.
Forces entered the flashpoint city of Nablus in the early morning hours and raided an apartment where the men were located, according to a military spokesman.
Troops and the suspects exchanged fire and the three men were killed.
The military accused them of being behind an attack last month on a car near a Jewish West Bank settlement that killed British-Israeli Lucy Dee, 48, and her daughters, Rina, 15, and Maia, 20.
It said two of the men, identified as Hassan Katnani and Maed Mitsri, were members of the Hamas militant group.
The third man killed, Ibrahim Hura, was described as a senior operative who had assisted the other suspects.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said three people were killed in the fighting but did not immediately identify them.
The violence in Nablus comes at a particularly sensitive time in the region, days after a prominent Palestinian prisoner who was staging a lengthy hunger strike over his detention died in Israeli custody.
His death set off a volley of rockets from militants in Gaza and air strikes in the coastal enclave that killed one man.
Israel has been staging near-nightly arrest raids into West Bank villages, towns and cities for more than a year in an operation prompted by a wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis last year.
Israel says the raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians see the attacks as further entrenchment of Israel's 56-year open-ended occupation of lands they seek for a future independent state.
The raids have been met by a surge in Palestinian attacks.
Some 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the raids were launched. Israel says most have been militants but stone-throwing youths and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed.
During that same time, nearly 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.
