The new Lion’s Den militia loses its founder in an operation that has killed five Palestinians
Nablus is in mourning. Thousands of people bid farewell to the five Palestinians killed in the operation launched last night by Israel’s special forces in the traveling part of this city located in the heart of the West Bank. The Israelis attacked the headquarters of the new Palestinian Lion’s Den militia, killing its leader, 31-year-old Wadee Al Hawah. The clashes in the old part lasted more than three hours and, according to the Al Jazeera channel, Israel would have used an armed drone to end the life of Al Hawah, who died early this morning in a hospital in this city that Israeli occupying forces have been blockaded for two weeks. Another 19-year-old Palestinian was killed in a protest organized in Nabi Saleh in response to the Nablus operation.
Israeli intelligence sources told the Yediot Ahronot newspaper that “this operation is a message to everyone who thinks that terrorists can find safe places to hide.” The escalation of violence in the occupied territories, with more than 100 Palestinians and 17 Israelis killed so far this year, puts the Jewish state in a “state of high alert” with less than a week to go before new elections, according to the same sources. 2022 is the bloodiest year in the West Bank since 2015.
Two months ago the Lion’s Den group appeared and since then they have become a nightmare for the security forces of Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). In one of their coups they managed to kill an Israeli soldier, but in these weeks the Israelis have been finishing one after another with its main members until reaching its founder. They present themselves as a militia of young people who want to overcome the differences between the Palestinian factions to put the armed struggle against the occupation first. That message has permeated the new generations, born after the Second Intifada and fed up with seeing how the Israeli colonies do not stop growing despite the policy of non-violence and collaboration in security matters established by the PNA of Mahmoud Abbas. His Telegram channel has more than 200,000 subscribers and his messages reach every Palestinian home.
From Ramallah, Abbas established “urgent contacts to stop this aggression against our people,” in the words of his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh. The problem is that it’s been a long time since anyone listened to a president whose security forces have joined the hunt for the Lion’s Den and have Musab Shtayyeh, close to Hamas, imprisoned in Jericho, whom they accuse of having brought the money that has allowed to buy weapons.
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