Palestinians march across West Bank, Gaza to support Lion's Den

Palestinian youths protest near the Israel-Gaza border east of Jabalia refugee camp, on February 23, 2023. (Photo: Mahmud Hams/AFP)

Hundreds of Palestinians enraged at the Israeli military's latest deadly raid into Nablus organized midnight marches around the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem in the pre-dawn hours Friday, demanding revenge and sparking low-level clashes with security forces.

In response to the Lion's Den terror group's call for protests, West Bank and Gazans came to the streets in an unusual show of support for the armed group despite Israel's recent demolition efforts.

Israeli forces raided Lion's Den, a last-year offshoot of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in Nablus on Wednesday morning.

11 Palestinians, including three civilians, were killed, and over 100 were injured in operation.

The Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, Nablus, Hebron, Ramallah, Tulkarm, and other places organized nocturnal marches.

East Jerusalem demonstrators clashed with police near the Shuafat refugee camp, Qalandia crossing, and a-Tur district.

Gaza saw massive marches.

In Nablus, hundreds of young men marched to protect the al-Aqsa Mosque and chanted for revenge.

Channel 12 said that Lion's Den invited Palestinians to demonstrate support for the group on Thursday.

After Palestinian terror group threats and international outrage, police boosted their alert level Wednesday night.

Gazans fired six rockets toward Israel early Thursday in retaliation to the operation, the deadliest in the West Bank since 2005 when the UN began recording such numbers. The Iron Dome intercepted five missiles, and the sixth crashed in a field.

Wednesday's assault comes about a month after a similar daytime operation in Jenin, where 10 Palestinians, including an elderly woman, were murdered in a violent battle as the IDF sought to apprehend terror suspects.

After 32 Palestinian terror acts murdered 32 people in 2022 and 11 since the start of the year, the IDF has begun conducting near-nightly operations in the West Bank.

The IDF's year-long campaign has resulted in more than 2,500 arrests and conflicts, with 171 Palestinians dead in 2022 and 60 since the start of the year, most of them while attacking or fighting security personnel. These were innocent individuals who were killed under suspicious circumstances.

In recent months, many raids have targeted the Lion's Den, a loose confederation of Nablus-based gunmen who have gained notoriety on the Palestinian street by brazenly attacking military stations, troops along the West Bank security barrier, Israeli settlements, and civilians on the highways.

Publish : 2023-02-24 10:52:00

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