OCCUPIED AL-QUDS (Dispatches) -- Palestinian youths opened fire on Zionist troops near a military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank Wednesday, killing an Israeli army officer, the occupying regime’s military said. Palestinian officials said that troops martyred the two gunmen.
The overnight incident was the latest in a string of deadly clashes in recent months in the northern West Bank, where Zionist troops conduct nightly raids. Most of that fighting, including Wednesday’s, has taken place near the city of Jenin, which is known as a bastion of Palestinian resistance fighters.
The military said troops spotted the two fighters approaching the occupying regime’s separation barrier in the northern West Bank and that it dispatched forces to the area. It said the two men began shooting automatic weapons at troops, who returned fire.
The Zionist army said that Maj. Bar Falah, 30, was killed in the shootout.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the occupying regime was holding the bodies of the two men. It identified them as Ahmad Abed, 23, and Abd al-Rahman Abed, 22, both from a village near Jenin.
The Israeli military said Ahmad Abed was a member of the Palestinian Authority security services, which coordinate with the occupying regime of Israel in an uneasy alliance against Hamas.
The Palestinian health ministry confirmed “the martyrdom” of the two men, who are cousins from the village of Kafr Dan northwest of Jenin.
Hamas praised the attack, hailing the two gunmen as “heroic martyrs.”
“These operations did not come out of nowhere. They came in response to the Israeli crimes that are committed daily,” Jamal Huwail, a member of the Revolutionary Council in the Fatah movement, was quoted as saying. “We cannot remain silent about them, and we cannot stand by and watch.”
Ahmed’s uncle Murad Abed told the Middle East Eye that the Zionist army, which later declared that the checkpoint will be closed

for traffic until Friday, had summoned the father to confirm the identity of Ahmed. Murad was released after hours of questioning and was not allowed to see the bodies.
According to Murad, Ahmed had been working for four years with the Palestinian security services’ intelligence branch after graduating from the Al Istiqlal University with a degree in security, military and police sciences.
Abdul Rahman was a laborer in agriculture and construction and has previously worked inside Occupied Palestine, Murad added, saying the family was shocked to hear the news of their martyrdom.
“As a family, we dreamed that the two young men would realize their dreams in life and have families in Kafr Dan like other people of their age,” Murad said.
“But they choose the path of resisting the occupation. They couldn’t remain silent about its crimes.”
The occupying regime of Israel has been carrying out nightly arrest raids in West Bank cities, towns and villages in recent months.
Israeli fire has martyred scores of Palestinians during the time, making it the deadliest year in the occupied territory since 2016.
Several civilians have been martyred during Israel’s monthslong operation, including a veteran journalist and a lawyer who apparently drove unwittingly into a battle zone. Local youths who took to the streets in response to the invasion of their neighborhoods have also been martyred.
The Palestinians say the operations are aimed at maintaining Israel’s 55-year military occupation of territories they want for an independent state.
The occupying regime of Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Al-Quds and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war and the Palestinians seek those territories for a future state.