Six Palestinians killed during radical Israeli attack in West Bank

An extensive Israeli operation against a militant group in the occupied West Bank resulted in the deaths of six Palestinians, all reportedly gunmen.

Sources have revealed that the recently created Lion’s Den faction was the objective of the operation in the northern city of Nablus.

In an incident earlier this month, the group shot and killed an Israeli soldier.

It has been established that in order to conduct a thorough search for the assassin of Staff Sergeant Ido Baruch, 21, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had sealed off Nablus for the previous two weeks.

As part of an ongoing Israeli effort to hunt out extremists after a series of deadly assaults on Israelis earlier this year, there has been an increase in violence between Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank in recent weeks.

Following nearly daily arrest raids by Israeli forces against terrorists mostly based in the northern West Bank, the Lion’s Den group was created.

According to the Israeli military, it is thought to have a few dozen members and has carried out assaults and attempted attacks around Nablus and as far away as Tel Aviv.

Recent appeals from the Palestinian Authority (PA), which oversees Nablus, for the organisation to surrender its weapons in exchange for joining the recognised Palestinian security forces, were ignored.

The IDF reported that security personnel searched an apartment in the Nablus casbah, which it claimed was the organisation’s headquarters and bomb-making facility.

Young men flooded onto the streets as Palestinians yelled over loudspeakers for residents to come out and defend the city.

At least three of the deceased have been identified as Lion’s Den members, including the organisation’s founder and senior leader.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, more than 20 Palestinians were injured during the attack.

According to reports, Palestinians protesting the Nablus raid threw stones against Israeli forces in the southern village of Nabi Saleh, where one Palestinian was also killed.

The raid was part of a larger, ongoing operation called Break the Wave that the IDF started after 17 Israelis and two Ukrainians were slain earlier this year by Palestinian and Israeli Arab terrorists.

Israel has not suffered any reported casualties.