The Palestinian terrorists that were the target of an Israeli raid in Nablus on Saturday night had recently carried out shooting attacks against Israelis, including at Joseph’s Tomb, and were planning more, Israeli media reported on Monday.
Israeli forces, acting on intelligence from the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), arrived at the Kasbah in Nablus in civilian vehicles and called on the four terrorists, who were hiding in an apartment, to surrender, according to Channel 12.
Instead, the terrorists opened fire, resulting in two of them being killed by Israeli forces in the subsequent gun battle.
Alerted to the raid by announcements from local mosques, other Palestinian gunmen began converging on the scene and firing at Israeli forces tasked with cordoning off the target area, who responded in kind, according to the report.
The main target of the raid, Ibrahim Nabulsi, a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, managed to escape, and was later seen at the funerals of the two dead gunmen, according to Channel 12.
This was not Nabulsi’s first narrow escape: On Feb. 8, he reportedly eluded capture after his vehicle came under IDF fire. The Shin Bet said in a statement at the time that Israeli security forces had killed three members of a terror cell in Nablus.