A counterterrorism unit dog named Zili was killed in Nablus on Tuesday during a conflict between the unit and Palestinians in which terrorist Ibrahim Nabulsi was killed. The canine was buried in the cemetery for the unit's canines later in the day.
"Unfortunately, during activity in Nablus, nine-year-old Zili was killed, a four-legged real fighter," said Police Chief Kobi Shabtai. "In 2019, Zili entered a multi-story building in Ramallah and found and overpowered the terrorist who killed Ori Ansbacher until the Counterterrorism Unit arrived to arrest him."
"Zili took part in hundreds of Counterterrorism unit operations in the past few years, and this morning, it seems like he saved the lives of soldiers."
Chief of Israel Police Kobi Shabtai
Shabtai added that the aim of the soldiers had been to arrest the suspects and take them in for questioning, but they were forced to use extreme force when the suspects resisted and shot at the soldiers.
"Whoever resists and risks the lives of police officers and soldiers will get a determined, strong response from the forces of Israel Police," he said.
What happened in Nablus?
The head of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in Nablus, Ibrahim Nabulsi, was said to have been killed in an IDF operation in the West Bank city on Tuesday.
Israeli Special Forces, from the police's elite Yamam counter-terror unit and the IDF's undercover Duvdevan Unit, entered Nablus early Tuesday morning and surrounded Nabulsi's home. Nabulsi had been wanted by the IDF for years and was said to have been responsible for a number of terrorist attacks in the West Bank, including shooting attacks against military positions in the area and against Joseph's Tomb, which is located on the outskirts of the West Bank city.