Israel's military announced it detained over 70 suspects across the occupied West Bank following violent incidents that resulted in the deaths of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinian villagers. The military conducted searches in over 300 locations, detaining individuals described as affiliates of Hamas, arms traffickers, and others.
Soldiers maintained a presence in the village of Tell, the focal point of Friday's clashes. Palestinian accounts described searches that extended to a hospital in Nablus, a city identified as one of the territory's more volatile areas. Ghassan Barkat, director of Nablus Specialty Hospital, stated that over 50 soldiers and officers entered the facility, alarming patients. He reported that staff and patients were detained, bound, and insulted, with hospital departments searched and one severely injured man arrested. Barkat emphasized that such actions are inappropriate for a healthcare institution, particularly with women and children present.
The circumstances leading to Friday's events remain unclear. Israeli media reports and local Palestinian officials suggest that a group of Israeli settlers entered Tell and encountered residents who were apprehensive about an attack. The village is designated as off-limits to Israelis under the 1993 Oslo Accords.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, Israeli soldiers fatally shot four Palestinians in Tell. The Israeli military reported the deaths of two soldiers, one identified as a settler belonging to a local defense squad. Four additional Palestinians and two Israelis sustained injuries.
Over 80 Palestinians were arrested throughout the territory, according to Amin Shuman, president of the Palestinian higher commission for the affairs of prisoners. He characterized these arrests as an attempt to impose collective punitive and retaliatory measures against Palestinian citizens following Friday's events.
The Israeli military also reported that on Saturday, Israeli civilians and Palestinians engaged in rock-throwing confrontations in the West Bank village of Susya. Additionally, a soldier's weapon was stolen but subsequently recovered.
More than 700,000 Israelis reside in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories Israel acquired in 1967. Palestinians seek these areas for an independent state, alongside the Gaza Strip.
In separate incidents on Saturday, Israeli strikes in Gaza resulted in the deaths of at least four Palestinians and wounded at least 15 others, according to Palestinian health officials. Airstrikes in Khan Younis killed a man and a woman. In the Jabaliya area, a strike on a vehicle killed one person and wounded two others. The director of the police force in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood was killed in a strike. In the Nuseirat refugee camp, three people were wounded, and near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, 10 people were injured by Israeli drone strikes.
Israel's military stated it targeted members of Hamas's and Palestinian Islamic Jihad's military wings in some of these strikes, asserting they were in response to militant attacks on troops and other violations. The military did not immediately comment on the other reported strikes.
While significant fighting had subsided since a ceasefire in October, Israeli forces have conducted repeated airstrikes in Gaza. The Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, reported that at least 1,191 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began. This ministry's casualty records are generally considered reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It indicates that women and children constitute the majority of the deceased, though a breakdown of civilians versus militants is not provided. Since the October ceasefire, five Israeli soldiers have been killed. The Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths and the taking of 251 hostages, initiating the current conflict. Gaza's Health Ministry stated that Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,317 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire.