Jericho under military siege after US-Israeli citizen killed in shooting attack
Access to the ancient city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank has been closed off by the Israeli army, which has also blocked the only land crossing for Palestinians seeking to travel to Jordan in the wake of the killing of an Israeli settler by a lone Palestinian gunman on 27 February.
The unidentified shooter reportedly carried out several drive-by shootings on a highway near Jericho, injuring several drivers.
“The army shut down several roads in the Jordan Valley in a bid to get those who carried out the operations,” Israel’s Channel 11 reported on Monday. “The second operation near Areeha led to four injuries, some of which are critical.”
According to WAFA news agency, Israeli troops raided the Aqbat Jabr refugee camp on the southern outskirts of Jericho in search of the suspect. Jericho and the refugee camp were the scenes of a bloody army assault earlier this month that left five Palestinians dead.
Israeli media identified the settler killed on Monday as dual US-Israeli citizen Elan Ganeles, 26, a native of Connecticut who first traveled to Israel at age 18 before serving in the Israeli army for several years.
Palestinian resistance group Hamas called the attack in the Jordan Valley a “natural response to the Israeli occupation’s crimes and massacres.”
“The occupation state and its settlers have to await more heroic operations in light of their growing aggression and the persistence in giving free rein to its army and its criminal settler militias to attack our people,” Hamas said in a brief statement.
Monday’s retaliatory attack came in response to Sunday’s violent rampage in Huwara by dozens of Israeli settlers, who killed one Palestinian civilian, injured nearly 400, and burned dozens of cars and homes in what has been described by some as a “pogrom.”
The violent attack occurred just hours after two Israeli settlers were killed in a shooting attack outside of Nablus, where Israeli troops last week massacred 11 Palestinians.
At a press briefing on Monday, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price condemned attacks by both sides and said Washington “expects” Tel Aviv to prosecute those involved in the Huwara rampage.
“We expect the Israeli government to ensure full accountability and legal prosecution of those responsible for these attacks in addition to compensation for the loss of homes and property,” Price said, calling Sunday’s attack “completely unacceptable.”
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