Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned on Friday the Israeli army killing of three Palestinian resistance fighters in the West Bank city of Jenin.
Spokesman of Palestinian president, Nabil Abu Rodaina, said “ this is a dangerous escalation that will fuel more deterioration in a time the Palestinian leadership is seeking an extension of a state of calm with Israel”.
The victims, who are identified as Islamic Jihad group members (Holy War), were reportedly killed during an Israeli ambush of the car they were driving. An eyewitness from the Silat Alharithiya village near Jenin, told IMEMC that an Israeli undercover unit intercepted a Palestinian car, while driving along them Silat Alharithiya-Jenin road.
The eyewitness said that masked Israeli soldiers forced three Palestinians out of the car then shot them to death directly, while an Israeli army force, made up of jeeps, cordoned off the area, where the shooting was taking place. He further explained that the soldiers held the wounded for half an hour before they handed them out to Palestinian medics.
Witnesses said that the fighters traded gun fire with the Israeli soldiers, while the Israeli army prevented ambulances from aiding the wounded, leading to their death.
The Islamic Jihad group vowed to response to today’s killing. Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian resistance groups including the governing Hamas demanded that Israel should stop attacking the West Bank if it wanted to guarantee halt of homemade rocket fire from Gaza into nearby Israeli territories.
Also, Palestinian Minister of Information Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi slammed the attack and said that this assasination proved that Israel does not want a partner for peace, and called on the international community to intervene.
He added that israel is attempting to cover the scandals of its president and miisters by escilating its agression.
Barghouthi called on the international community to provide the Palestinian people with the needed protection.
A six-month-old ceasefire has been recently threatened after Israel killed two weeks ago 8 Palestinians in the West Bank and a ninth in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza responded by a barrage of homemade shells fire into nearby Israeli targets
