Ramallah: Two Hamas military leaders were killed by the Israeli Army, in an attack on Hebron in the West Bank on Friday.
Ma’amoun Al Natshih, from Hebron, and Nasha’at Al Karmi, accused of killing four Israeli colonists in Bani Naeem on September 2, were targeted by Israeli soldiers who opened fire on the building in which they were hiding in Jabal Jawhar.
According to sources, the Israeli Army attacked the three-storey building with bulldozers and tanks, before opening fire.
The operation started late on Thursday night and was still ongoing on Friday afternoon, with ensuing clashes involving hundreds of residents, many of whom were injured or arrested.
Abdul Karim Jebarah, an eye witness, told how the Israeli Army had banned medical staff from attending to the bodies of the men as they lay dying, but a group of Hebron residents managed to reach them and brought them to the nearby hospital where they were pronounced dead. Families of the men later identified them and they will now be buried in Tulkarem.
Hamas has confirmed their names and gave their rankings: Al Karmi was the Chief of the Al Qassam in Tulkarim and Al Natshih, head of Al Qassam in Hebron.
In response to the attack, Abu Obaida, a spokesman for Al Qassam Bridges, warned that Hamas would stage a retaliation. He said in a statement that such an attack would never end resistance and that Israel would be punished for the crime.
