WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement has condemned the recent fatal shooting of three young Palestinian men by Zionist troops in the occupied West Bank, stressing that armed struggle against the occupying regime will continue unabated across the Palestinian territories.
“The blood of the martyrs will not be wasted. Their long-held dream was fulfilled and they joined the rank of their fallen combatant and steadfast brethren,” Ziyad al-Nakhalah said in telephone conversations with families of the victims.
Nakhalah said the enemy will be astounded within the next few days as “it will get hit from where it has never calculated”.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad chief also said it was a matter of pride for him to cooperate with all freedom-seeking resistance fighters in the face of the Zionist regime, and confront the regime’s aggression against Palestinian lands and nation.
The head of the political bureau of Palestine’s Hamas resistance movement also denounced the assassination, vowing revenge for the heinous crime.
Ismail Haniyeh expressed his condolences to the bereaved families of the victims and praised their heroism.
“Assassination is a failed policy and it will not be able to stop the resistance of the Palestinian people,” Haniyeh said, adding that the martyrs’ blood will not go in vain.
Hamas and all Palestinian resistance groups feel a responsibility to revenge for the blood of those killed by the Zionist troops in the treacherous assassination operation, Haniyeh emphasized.
The Hamas official said the blood of the martyrs is a clear invitation for the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority to end its cooperation with the occupying regime.
The three youths were assassinated by Zionist Special Forces in the al-Makhfeya neighborhood of the city of Nablus.
WAFA news agency reported that the troops came to the neighborhood with an unmarked civilian vehicle bearing a Palestinian number plate. The troops then started shooting at another vehicle that was moving nearby.
Three of the youths in the car were assassinated and a fourth was taken away.
The assassination triggered a new wave of anger among the Palestinians and sparked condemnations from all Palestinian factions as well as Muslim countries.
Thousands of Palestinians responded to a call by Hamas to join the funeral ceremonies en masse. Protests were also held across the West Bank against the crime, with the participants vowing revenge.