NABLUS, West Bank — Israel’s military announced it took more than 70 people into custody across the occupied West Bank overnight and into Saturday, one day after troops spread throughout the territory following violence that claimed the lives of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinian residents of a local village.
Military personnel remained stationed in the village of Tell, located in the northern West Bank, where Friday’s deadly confrontations took place. Palestinians reported that the operations included a raid on a hospital in Nablus, one of the most volatile cities in the territory.
Ghassan Barkat, the director of Nablus Specialty Hospital, spoke to reporters about what he witnessed. “More than 50 armed soldiers and officers stormed the hospital, terrifying the patients,” he said. Barkat stated that on Friday, soldiers detained, bound, and verbally abused both staff and patients, swept through hospital departments, and took into custody a seriously injured patient named Ali Hussein Ali Ramadan. “This should not happen in a healthcare institution,” Barkat added, noting that women and children were among those present at the time.
The Israeli military released a statement that made no reference to the hospital. Instead, it said forces searched more than 300 locations and detained individuals it described as connected to the Hamas militant group, arms traffickers, and others labeled as “terrorists.”
The full picture of what triggered Friday’s events remains uncertain. Reports from Israeli media and accounts from local Palestinian officials suggest that a group of settlers entered Tell and were confronted by residents who feared they were under attack. The village falls under Area B designation established by the 1993 Oslo Accords, which restricts Israeli access.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, Israeli soldiers fatally shot four Palestinians in Tell. The Israeli military reported the deaths of two of its own soldiers, one of whom was a settler serving in a local defense unit. Health officials said two additional Israelis and four more Palestinians were also wounded in the clashes.
On Saturday, the Israeli military said 11 suspects were detained specifically in Tell. Amin Shuman, president of the Palestinian higher commission for the affairs of prisoners, said more than 80 Palestinians had been arrested across the West Bank overall. He described the detentions as “an attempt to impose collective punitive measures and retaliatory policies” against Palestinian civilians in the wake of Friday’s events.
Palestinians in the West Bank have faced increasing violence as Israel’s hard-line government, which is heavily influenced by settler leaders and their supporters, has overseen a significant expansion of settlement construction over the past four years. The international community largely views Israeli settlement building as illegal and a barrier to achieving peace.
More than 700,000 Israelis currently reside in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem — territories Israel seized in 1967 that Palestinians seek as part of a future independent state, along with the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes on Saturday killed at least four Palestinians and left at least 15 others wounded at various locations throughout Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials.
In the southern city of Khan Younis, a strike killed one man and one woman, whose bodies were transported to Nasser Hospital. In the northern Jabaliya area, a strike on a vehicle killed one person and injured two others, with casualties taken to Shifa Hospital. A strike targeting a motorbike in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood killed the director of the local police force, according to the Interior Ministry and Shifa Hospital.
In the central Gaza refugee camp of Nuseirat, three people were wounded in a strike, according to the Belgian field hospital that received them. Israeli drones also struck near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah, injuring 10 people. Witnesses described chaotic scenes as bystanders rushed badly wounded individuals into the facility.
Israel’s military said it targeted a member of Hamas’s military wing near Al-Aqsa hospital and did not immediately respond to questions about the other strikes. The military has said its operations are in response to militant shooting attacks on troops and other violations.
A shaky ceasefire that took hold in October brought an end to two years of full-scale fighting between Israel and Hamas, though Israeli forces have continued conducting airstrikes. At least 1,191 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas-led government, is considered generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent analysts. It does not separate civilian and militant deaths but reports that women and children account for the majority of fatalities. Five Israeli soldiers have died since the ceasefire went into effect.
The conflict was ignited by a Hamas-led militant attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 people and resulted in 251 being taken hostage. Israel’s military response in Gaza has since killed more than 73,317 Palestinians, including those killed after the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
