Israeli media reported that the commander of the Gush Etzion Brigade, a soldier and a number of settlers were injured in a double operation targeting two settlements in the West Bank late Friday night, while the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) blessed the operation and considered it a clear message in its time and place.

An explosion occurred at the Gush Etzion junction, the settlement north of Hebron, followed by an attack at the entrance to the nearby settlement of Karmei Tzur.

The Israeli occupation army said in a statement that "two security incidents occurred in the Gush Etzion Brigade, and we killed the perpetrators of the attacks."

"At this stage it is not possible to determine whether there is a link between the two events," he added.

Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that the occupation forces closed the entrances to Hebron, south of the area where the two operations took place, and sent large reinforcements.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that the army imposed a siege on Hebron after the two operations.

friendly fire

The Israeli Army Radio said that the commander of the "Gush Etzion Brigade" - a colonel - and one of the soldiers were shot by their colleagues while "neutralizing the attacker."

For its part, the Israeli army stated that a car exploded at a gas station at the Gush Etzion junction, and that forces arrived at the scene and killed the attacker.

It added that an attempted ramming targeted a security guard near Karmi Tzur, and that the forces killed the attacker. Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted security services as saying that the perpetrators drove two cars on Route 60, then the first headed to the gas station, and the other towards Karmi Tzur. Hamas congratulates this. The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) blessed the double operation near the settlements of "Gush Etzion" and "Karmi Tzur" north of Hebron, and said that it is "a clear message that the resistance will remain striking, extended and continuous as long as the brutal aggression of the occupation continues and its targeting of our people and our land." It stressed that "this qualitative operation" carries "symbolic significance in terms of where it occurred in Hebron in the southern West Bank; and in terms of its timing, as it comes at this sensitive time in which we are witnessing the occupation escalating its aggression against the governorates of the northern West Bank, and its massacres and genocide in the Gaza Strip." It added that the operation came "to confirm to the occupation that it cannot isolate any part of the homeland," and that it represents a new slap in the face to the occupation's security system, as it comes in light of State of alert inside Israel. The resistance and the Palestinian people called for more confrontation and response to the ongoing crimes of the occupation. This double operation comes 3 days after the occupation army launched a large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank, described as the largest since 2002, which led to the martyrdom and injury of dozens of Palestinians and the displacement of families, and left widespread destruction in the targeted cities and camps.

Source: Al Jazeera + Agencies + Israeli Press