Palestinian resistance hails retaliatory West Bank operations

According to the Israeli military, a car exploded at a gas station near the Gush Etzion junction in the first incident Friday. Troops dispatched to the scene shot dead a Palestinian, who had arrived in the vehicle and who purportedly attempted to attack them.

In the second incident, which occurred about 20 minutes later, another Palestinian breached into the nearby Karmei Tzur settlement, before being shot dead. The Palestinian man’s car exploded inside the community.

Media reports said at least three Israeli settlers were injured in the two separate attacks.

Hamas said in a statement that the operations send a clear message that the resistance front will remain firm, strong and resilient as long as Israel continues its brutalities and acts of aggression against the Palestinian nation and occupied territories.

“The qualitative operations have profound significance as they were carried out in the southern West Bank city of al-Khalil, and came at a critical moment as the occupying entity has stepped up its aggression in the northern side of the West Bank, and intensified its massacres and genocide in the West Bank.

“These operations remind the Zionist regime of the fact that it cannot partition any part of our homeland, and that our people and heroic resistance fighters will surprise Israel anywhere and anytime,” the statement read.

Hamas noted that the coordinated car bomb explosions represent a new blow to the Israeli security apparatus, and highlights that illegal settlers cannot enjoy security on occupied Palestinian lands and will continue to receive more painful strikes from Palestinian resistance fighters.

“We call upon our people and resistance groups to further confront and respond to the ongoing Israeli crimes. We are in the midst of the blessed al-Aqsa Storm battle, and must therefore unite all our efforts in order to deter the occupying Israeli regime and thwart its fiendish plots.”