Israeli forces, settlers flee Nablus over Palestinian resistance after raid on city

Palestinian youth have confronted Israeli settlers and engaged soldiers in a firefight, making them flee Nablus, after they entered the city to force their way into a historic site.

Clashes broke out on Sunday night between Palestinians and Israeli forces after a raid to make room for settlers to visit Joseph’s Tomb, according to the Quds News Network.

With security forces tagging along, at least 12 buses carrying as many as 500 Israeli settlers entered Nablus to perform Talmudic prayers in Joseph’s Tomb.

Videos circulating on social media showed troops firing incessantly at a residential building during the raid.

They fired tear gas canisters and rubber-coated metal bullets at the Palestinian youths, who tried to stop the intrusion of the Israeli troops and settlers.

There has been no report of injuries among the Palestinians in spite of the heavy onslaught.

Palestinian resistance fighters blocked roads to the holy site with burnt tires and opened fire at the Israeli soldiers,  forcing them and the settlers to flee.

According to Israeli media, two Israeli police officers were injured and an armored vehicle sustained significant damage during the incursion.

One officer was also lightly wounded by an explosive and transferred for treatment to a military clinic and another was injured lightly by a stone that hit his face, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The Israeli military frequently invades Nablus to accompany settlers into the historic site, sparking protests by Palestinians. It also repeatedly invades Palestinian homes and arrests youths.

The clashes came less than a day after troops shot dead at least five Palestinians, including a teenage boy, across the occupied West Bank.

Five Palestinians killed in overnight clashes with Israeli forces across West Bank

At least five Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli forces during overnight military raids in various areas of the occupied West Bank.

On Monday morning, Israeli settlers accompanied by Israeli police broke into the courtyard of the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied al-Quds, Palestinian Shehab news agency reported.

Under the protection of Israeli forces, over 500 Israeli settlers broke into the courtyard of the third holiest site to Muslims through the Damascus Gate, also known as Bab al-Amoud Gate.

The Israeli forces also brutally detained a Palestinian youth for no apparent reason other than praying in the mosque.

Resistance groups praise ‘heroes of Nablus’

A Hamas spokesman hailed the “arms throwing stones and bullets” at Israeli forces in Nablus, which repelled the incursion of the Israeli army and settlers and inflicted injures upon them.

“The rising youth in all the cities of the West Bank proved that they are the reservoir of revolution and the extension of the intifada until they achieve the goals of our people with liberation and return,” Hazem Qassem said in a statement on Monday.

Prominent Islamic Jihad leader Sheikh Khader Adnan also praised the “heroes of Nablus” for evicting the invaders from the city.

“With the mountains of al-Quds, Bedouin, Jenin and Burqin, Nablus is rising up and confronting [the enemy] valiantly,” Adnan said.

On Sunday, a member of the Islamic Jihad politburo said resistance fighters will not lay down their legitimate weapons in the face of the occupying regime, but will rather continue to carry out operations against the enemy.

“The West Bank after today will not be an empty arena” for the enemy to conduct its incursions, Khaled al-Batsh said, referring to the dawn confrontations.

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