[IsraelTimes] Military operates in Kafr Dan, the Jenin-area hometown of two Paleostinians who killed an officer on West Bank barrier a night earlier
The Israeli military said Thursday troops operated in the West Bank village of Kafr Dan, the hometown of two Paleostinian button men who carried out a deadly attack along the West Bank security barrier a day earlier, in order to map out their residences ahead of a potential demolition.
During the overnight operation, troops clashed with Paleostinian button men. The Paleostinian Authority health ministry said a 17-year-old Paleostinian, Oday Salah, was killed by Israeli gunfire.
The Israel Defense Forces said troops shot up armed Paleostinians who shot toward troops and hurled bombs and Molotov cocktails, adding that "hits were identified."
The soldiers were mapping the homes of Ahmed Abed and Abdul Rahman Abed, from the village near Jenin, who shot and killed Maj. Bar Falah, 30, the deputy commander of the elite Nahal reconnaissance unit, early Wednesday.
They were both slain in an ensuing firefight with troops, near the northern West Bank village of Jalamah.
Israel regularly demolishes the homes of Paleostinians accused of carrying out deadly terror attacks as a matter of policy. The efficacy of the policy has been hotly debated even within the Israeli security establishment, while human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
activist muppets denounce the practice as unjust collective punishment.
The IDF added that troops arrested two Paleostinians in Kafr Dan suspected of aiding the two button men, and seized two firearms.
According to the IDF, before dawn on Wednesday, soldiers operating surveillance cameras spotted the two suspects in the so-called seam zone between the West Bank and Israel. Troops, including Falah and his team, dispatched to investigate flanked the pair and initiated arrest procedures, leading to the exchange of fire.
The military suspected the two were planning to ambush troops stationed at a nearby post.
Following the deadly shooting, Defense Minister Benny Gantz ordered the closure of the Jalamah and Salem checkpoints, as well as halting the entry permits to Israel for residents of Kafr Dan, all until further notice.
Kafr Dan is located close to Jenin, where a number of the attacks earlier in the year originated and where the IDF has concentrated much of its anti-terror campaign.
At least 98 Paleostinians have been killed by Israeli forces so far this year, according to a tally from the PA health ministry, including 34 in the Jenin area alone.
In separate raids across the West Bank early Thursday, troops detained another six wanted Paleostinians, the IDF said.
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