Hamas has called on members of Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank to carry out terrorist attacks against settlers and IDF soldiers.
The call came after a Palestinian security officer was shot last week by soldiers as he opened fire at a military position near Nablus.
The IDF said that several armed Palestinians arrived by car at the military post between Nablus and Huwara. One gunman got out of the vehicle and opened fire.
The soldiers returned fire and wounded the assailant, who was taken to an Israeli hospital.
The gunman was identified as Mahmoud Hajeer, 23, an officer with the Palestinian Police from Balata refugee camp near Nablus.
صورة محمود خالد حجير (23 سنة) المعتقل بحالة صحية خطيرة، بعد إصابته برصاص جنود الاحتلال عند حاجز حوارة مساء أمس. يدعي جيش الاحتلال أن محمود وشابين آخرين وصلوا الحاجز يستقلون مركبة واحدة وأطلقوا الرصاص على جنوده فرد الجنود بإطلاق الرصاص، وقد أصيب الشابان أيضًا ونقلا لمستشفى رفيديا. pic.twitter.com/yGN9pPi3pO
— Ultra Palestine - الترا فلسطين (@palestineultra) July 29, 2022
The involvement of the police officer in the shooting attack came amid growing fear that the PA and its security forces are losing control of the situation in the northern West Bank, especially in the areas of Nablus and Jenin.
Palestinian sources said over the weekend that there were signs of increased cooperation between gunmen belonging to Fatah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in these areas.
Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanou praised the officer who carried out the shooting attack and urged all members of the PA security forces to follow suit and “clash with the occupation forces and settlers to defend our people and our land.”
Qanou also called on the members of the PA security services to reject security coordination between the authority and the IDF.
Other terror groups respond
The PLO’s Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), a secular, Marxist-Leninist terrorist group, called on the PA leadership to turn thousands of its security officers into a “protective shield for our people against settler attacks and a deterrence force against the IDF.”
The DFLP said that changing the duties of the PA security services would “strengthen the cohesion between the people and their security forces.”
Nafez Azzam, a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad official, said on Friday that the increased number of terrorist attacks in the West Bank have “confused” Israel.
Azzam said that he expected an increase in attacks.
“Israel does not want the resistance to spread to many Palestinian cities and villages,” he added. “But our people will not surrender. Israel won’t be able to stop the resistance.”
"Our people will not surrender. Israel won’t be able to stop the resistance."
Senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad official Nafez Azzam
He ruled out the possibility that Israel would launch a military offensive in the Gaza Strip, “because it knows that the price would be very heavy.”