Four Jewish settlers were reportedly killed and four others wounded in a Palestinian shooting operation near the illegal settlement of Eli in northern Ramallah on Tuesday afternoon.
The incident happened at the entrance of a restaurant at a petrol station on Route 60 located near Eli which is north of Ramallah and south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
One resistance fighter was reportedly shot dead in a firefight at the gas station and at least another fighter escaped the scene in a car before he was also located and killed later according to Israeli news reports.
Palestinian media outlets identified the resistance fighters as Muhannad Faleh Shehadeh who was killed at the scene and Khaled Sabah who was shot dead near Tubas after Israeli forces tracked down the car he was driving.
At first Israeli medical sources said that some settlers were rushed to hospitals in Israel in serious condition but later four were pronounced dead.
Four other settlers three of them were unconscious were also given on-site medical treatment before they were evacuated to hospitals. One of them is still in serious condition.
In this regard Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasem applauded the shooting operation near Eli settlement stressing that the Palestinian resistance’s “response to the Israeli occupation’s crimes in Jenin refugee camp and the police raid at the Aqsa Mosque yesterday was not late.”
“The West Bank revolutionaries will strike everywhere and in places the Israeli occupation cannot expect” spokesman Qasem said in a brief statement.
“This ongoing revolution and great intifada (uprising) will continue and will never stop without our people achieving their aspirations for freedom and independence” the spokesman added.
Palestinian resistance factions including Hamas mourned the martyrs calling them “heroes.” In a statement Hamas reiterated the Palestinian people’s right to defend themselves with all possible means.
