Three Palestinians killed as Israel launches new raid against suspected militants in the West Bank

Among the dead is Ibrahim Al-Nabulsi, the apparent target of the Israeli raid. The other men killed have been named by Palestinian health ministry officials as Islam Sabbouh and Hussein Jamal Taha.A statement from the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a loose affiliation of smaller armed groups, hailed the three men’s deaths as a heroic act of resistance.While closely linked, the PRC is regarded as separate from the armed wings of the Islamic Jihad (the Quds Brigades) and Hamas (the Qassam Brigades) militant groups.Israel has accused Al Nabulsi of involvement in a series of recent shooting attacks on Israelis in the West Bank.Israeli forces surrounded a building in the old city of Nablus early Tuesday before targeting it with a shoulder-fired missile, an Israeli statement said, triggering an exchange of gunfire.The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, said on Telegram that its members in Nablus were involved in “violent confrontations with enemy special forces as they stormed the old city.”About 40 people were injured, several critically, in the violent exchanges, in addition to the three men killed, according to Palestinian health ministry.The fatal clashes look set to test the strength of a Around 185 rockets landed inside Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Monday. The Iron Dome aerial defense system, which is deployed against any incoming fire assessed to be a threat to people or buildings, and which intercepted the rockets fired at Jerusalem, was operating at a 96% success rate, an IDF spokesman said Monday.A senior Israeli diplomatic official, speaking to reporters Monday, appeared to acknowledge that Israel’s campaign might have been responsible for some civilian deaths, as well as those of militants, saying that initial assessments were that “most” civilian casualties were the result of errant rocket fire from Islamic Jihad. Civilian casualties were always a tragedy, the official said.In one incident Saturday, four children were among seven people killed in an explosion in Jabaliya in northern Gaza. The Palestinian health ministry said the blast was caused by an Israeli airstrike, but Israel rejected the claim, blaming errant rocket fire. The IDF released a video showing what it said was an Islamic Jihad rocket apparently suddenly losing power and falling to the ground over a built-up area.