Gaza-based activists pledged to continue demonstrating against Hamas despite a major crackdown on protesters over the past week. The terror group blamed Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’s rival Ramallah-based government of fomenting the rallies and arrested dozens of officials from his ruling Fatah faction.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces located and killed a Palestinian teenager who on Sunday fatally stabbed an IDF soldier and then shot dead a rabbi, the father of 12, in an attack near the West Bank Jewish community of Ariel.
Following a 48-hour manhunt, Omar Abu Lila was found in the Palestinian village of Abwain and reportedly opened fire on security personnel rather than turn himself in.
Shortly thereafter, Israeli troops killed two Palestinians who threw explosive devices toward a group of Jews heading to pray at the Joseph’s Tomb holy site, a regular flashpoint in the city of Nablus.
The uptick in violence comes as Jerusalem shuttered for the next four days all crossing points from the West Bank and Gaza Strip into Israel ahead of the Jewish holiday of Purim, which is standard practice during festivals.
The Media Line discussed both Palestinian fronts with Brig. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Nuriel, former director of the Counter-Terrorism Bureau in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and previously the deputy commander of the IDF’s Gaza Strip division.
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