NABLUS, Palestine: Israel on Wednesday detained three alleged members of the Lions’ Den militant group in the occupied West Bank, the army said, including the brother of a key Palestinian militant.
The arrest of Muhammad Al-Nabulsi and two others in Nablus comes a day after five Palestinians were killed during an Israeli military operation in the city.
“Muhammad Al-Nabulsi was suspected of possessing weapons, manufacturing explosive devices and involvement in the ‘Lions’ Den’ terrorist group,” the army said in a statement.
His brother Ibrahim Al-Nabulsi, nicknamed “The Lion of Nablus,” was shot dead by Israeli forces in August and has since become a folk hero among Palestinian youth.
The Lions’ Den has emerged in recent months alongside a sharp rise in raids by Israeli forces in the northern West Bank.
The three arrests on Wednesday follow the killing on Tuesday of Wadih Al-Houh, described by Israel as the head of the Lions’ Den, and four other Palestinians in Nablus.
A further 20 Palestinians were wounded in the Israeli operation, the Palestinian health ministry said.
In addition to regular raids, the Israeli army has imposed additional checkpoints around Nablus over the past two weeks which have severely impeded daily life.
The closures follow the killing of an Israeli soldier in the area on October 11, three days after a military policewoman was shot dead in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
So far this month 25 Palestinians have been killed in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War.
Israel detains alleged Palestinian militants in West Bank
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Israel detains alleged Palestinian militants in West Bank
- The arrest comes a day after six Palestinians were killed in Nablus
UN rights chief shocked by ‘unbearable’ Darfur atrocities
- Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur
PORT SUDAN: Nearly three years of war have put the Sudanese people through “hell,” the UN’s rights chief said on Sunday, blasting the vast sums spent on advanced weaponry at the expense of humanitarian aid and the recruitment of child soldiers.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that has left tens of thousands of people dead and around 11 million displaced.
Speaking in Port Sudan during his first wartime visit, UN Human Rights commissioner Volker Turk said the population had endured “horror and hell,” calling it “despicable” that funds that “should be used to alleviate the suffering of the population” are instead spent on advanced weapons, particularly drones.
More than 21 million people are facing acute food insecurity, and two-thirds of Sudan’s population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid, according to the UN.
In addition to the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis, Sudan is also facing “the increasing militarization of society by all parties to the conflict, including through the arming of civilians and recruitment and use of children,” Turk added.
He said he had heard testimony of “unbearable” atrocities from survivors of attacks in Darfur, and warned of similar crimes unfolding in the Kordofan region — the current epicenter of the fighting.
Testimony of these atrocities must be heard by “the commanders of this conflict and those who are arming, funding and profiting from this war,” he said.
Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur.
“We must ensure that the perpetrators of these horrific violations face justice regardless of the affiliation,” Turk said on Sunday, adding that repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure could constitute “war crimes.”
He called on both sides to “cease intolerable attacks against civilian objects that are indispensable to the civilian population, including markets, health facilities, schools and shelters.”
Turk again warned on Sunday that crimes similar to those seen in El-Fasher could recur in volatile Kordofan, where the RSF has advanced, besieging and attacking several key cities.
Hundreds of thousands face starvation across the region, where more than 65,000 people have been displaced since October, according to the latest UN figures.
