Israeli forces say they have killed two Palestinian militants accused of shooting dead a British-Israeli woman and her two daughters in the occupied West Bank last month.
A third militant who allegedly aided the pair was also killed during the raid in the city of Nablus.
Several Palestinians were also injured in confrontations with the troops. Lucy Dee, 48, and her daughters, Rina, 15, and Maia, 20, were killed in an attack in the Jordan Valley on April 7.
They were travelling to an event for the Passover holiday when gunmen opened fire at their car near the settlement of Hamra, 16km (10 miles) west of Nablus.
Their car crashed and the gunmen fired again at close range. Rina and Maia died at the scene, while Lucy died in hospital three days later.
In Thursday’s early morning raid in Nablus, more than 200 Israeli soldiers entered the Old City, using shoulder-mounted anti-tank missiles and stun grenades fired from drones.
Residents said they heard explosions while people were preparing to go to work and children left home for school. Outside the Old City, troops reportedly fired at Palestinians who were trying to repel the military vehicles by throwing stones at them.
Paramedics said four people were taken to hospital, two with bullet wounds to the legs, and that dozens more suffered from tear gas inhalation. The Palestinian health ministry said those affected included pupils in a nearby school.
Fawaz Bitar, a paramedic with the Palestinian Red Crescent, told the BBC that crews in clearly marked vests could not reach the site of the damaged building for an hour and a half because Israeli troops targeted them with tear gas and rubber bullets.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said troops targeted an apartment where the “murderers of Leah (Lucy’s Hebrew name), Maia and Rina Dee” were hiding.
It identified them as Hassan Qatanani and Moaz Masri and said they were members of the Palestinian militant group, Hamas.
The two men were killed in an exchange of fire along with a senior Hamas operative who helped them escape the scene of last month’s attack, the IDF added, naming him as Ibrahim Jabr. -BBC
