Ibrahim Nabulsi has been wanted by the IDF for years for a number of terrorist attacks in the West Bank, including against Joseph’s Tomb.
Head of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in Nablus, Ibrahim Nabulsi, was said to have been killed in an IDF operation in the West Bank city on Tuesday. Despite the IDF claim that it had surrounded Nabulsi’s home and killed him in an ongoing firefight, the Palestinian Health Ministry initially claimed that he was still alive, albeit in critical condition.
A second Palestinian holed up in the home with Nabulsi was also killed and the Red Crescent said that an additional 30 people were injured.
Israeli special forces, from the police’s elite Yamam counter-terror unit and the IDF’s undercover Duvdevan Unit, entered Nablus early Tuesday morning and surrounded Nabulsi’s home. Nabulsi had been wanted by the IDF for years and was said to have been responsible for a number of terrorist attacks in the West Bank, including shooting attacks against military positions in the area and against Joseph’s Tomb which is located on the outskirts of Nablus.
Nabulsi refused to surrender and the security forces proceeded to use the “pressure cooker” method to reach him, which involved firing an anti-tank missile at the building in which he was holed up.
During the operation, a firefight broke out between IDF soldiers and Palestinians after security forces. Thirty Palestinians were said to have been wounded in the ensuing gun battle, which took place in daytime, a rarity in the West Bank. No casualties to Israeli forces were reported, although a trained dog belonging to Yamam was shot and killed when entering the building.
According to a statement from Yamam following the events in Nablus, police confirmed the death of Nabulsi, adding that “in the raid carried out in the location he was staying, a large number of explosives and additional weapons were found.”
In a recording shared online, a voice reported to be Nabulsi can be heard saying “I love you all, I am now going to die a martyr’s death, I am asking that you never leave your weapons. I love my mother, pray for me.”
Who was Ibrahim Nabulsi?
Nabulsi served as the head of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades group, the military wing of Fatah who have claimed responsibility for multiple terror attacks in Israel over the years. Most recently, they claimed responsibility for a shooting in Bnei Brak in March 2022, in which five people were killed.
Nabulsi was one of the terrorists involved in a shooting at Joseph’s Tomb at the end of June, in which two Israeli civilians and one IDF commander were injured. The attack occurred during a regularly scheduled visit to the tomb to mark the new month, in which thousands of Jewish worshipers are allowed access to the site after the IDF has secured passage to the tomb.
He had evaded arrest several times in the past, and in February of this year, he was believed to have been eliminated by IDF forces along with three other members of his cell, but it was later discovered that he was still alive.
Then, in July, several months later, Nabulsi again escaped arrest during an IDF raid in which two additional members of his cell were killed.
In a statement following the events, Public Security Minister Omer Bar Lev praised the Israeli forces, saying that their actions “prove not only the courage and professionalism of the fighters, the precise intelligence, and the impressive cooperation between the various forces – but also the fact that the government continues to initiate and act offensively to lay hands on every terrorist who has carried out attacks, or who plans to carry out such attacks.”
Operation Break the Wave:
In addition to the operation carried out in Nablus overnight, IDF troops, along with Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) forces and other special forces, arrested an additional four wanted people throughout the West Bank.
In addition to the arrest, several illegal weapons, including grenades, were seized by security forces, as well as a stolen vehicle.
The clashes in Nablus follow a weekend of IDF operations against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip in Operation Breaking Dawn, during which, close to 1,000 rockets were fired from the strip toward Israel.
Operation Breaking Dawn was the result of an increase in tensions between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad after Israeli forces arrested Bassem al-Saadi, leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the West Bank, from his home in Jenin last week.