Netanyahu orders Israeli army to launch ‘wide-scale' offensive in occupied West Bank villages

Israeli forces raid Nablus after shooting near illegal settlement kills occupier, injures three others

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said Friday that they had ordered the army to launch a “wide-scale military operation” in Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank. In a joint statement, Netanyahu and Katz also said the army had been instructed to demolish the home of the Palestinian accused of carrying out a shooting attack against occupiers near the Palestinian town of Tell in the northern West Bank. A large Israeli military force raided the city of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, according to an Anadolu correspondent. The measures followed a shooting near the illegal Havat Gilad settlement, close to Nablus, that killed an Israeli occupier and injured three others, according to Israeli media. Israel’s Channel 13 reported that Palestinians had seized the weapon of a settlement security officer and opened fire on settlers. Earlier Friday, four Palestinians were killed and four others injured, including three critically, during an attack by Israeli forces and occupiers on Tell, southwest of Nablus, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.