NABLUS (PIC)– Leaving no time for the exhausted city to breathe large numbers of IOF troops backed by tens of military vehicles stormed Nablus city anew at dawn Thursday and wreaked havoc in Palestinian homes.
Local Palestinian sources and eyewitnesses confirmed the IOF troops’ incursion into the city adding that eight Palestinian citizens were rounded up at the hands of those troops.
IOF troops alleged that the arrested Palestinians were resistance activists but the eyewitnesses refuted the Israeli allegations explaining that the kidnapped youths were ordinary citizens.
According to the eyewitnesses tens of IOF military vehicles loaded with large numbers of IOF troops invaded the city amidst intensive machinegun shooting and sound bomb explosions before occupying and taking position in a number of buildings in the city.
Furthermore the invading troops the eyewitnesses affirmed used at least one Palestinian citizen as a human shield during their house-to-house searches in clear defiance of an Israeli Supreme Court ruling banning the IOF troops from using Palestinian citizens as human shields during operations.
Meanwhile IOF spokesman affirmed that an IOF patrol was ambushed by Palestinian resistance fighters at dawn Thursday while attempting to sneak into Nablus and assassinate a number of Palestinian activists.
The spokesman reported no casualties in the IOF ranks but Palestinian fighters confirmed they hit a number of soldiers in the ambush.
Also at dawn Thursday the IOF troops kidnapped 20 Palestinian citizens in different parts of the West Bank alleging they were affiliated with resistance factions.
At the infamous Hawwara roadblock Israeli occupation soldiers manning the checkpoint arbitrarily shot at the car of Palestinian citizen Shawki Al-Rougibi who was heading to his job and seriously wounded him.
The soldiers alleged that Al-Rougibi refused to stop at the barrier; but Palestinian citizens stranded at the checkpoint affirmed that the shooting was “arbitrary and unprovoked”.
Tens of Palestinians citizens waiting to cross the barrier were seized for hours after the incident; but Al-Rougibi was kidnapped and led to an unknown place.
In another development PA security elements manning a checkpoint in Tulkarm city allowed an undercover IOF special unit apparently heading to assassinate Palestinian activists to pass after stopping them for a while before identifying and permitting them to go.
Few hours later the Israeli side informed the PA security apparatus of its intention to launch a military operation in the city prompting PA security elements to clear the way for them.
