OCCUPIED WEST BANK — In a powerful affirmation of the Palestinian resistance’s commitment to defending Islamic holy sites, a heroic shooting operation near the illegal Neve Tzuf (Halamish) settlement northwest of Ramallah resulted in the death of a Zionist settler on Sunday. The operation has been widely praised by Palestinian resistance factions as a direct and natural retaliation against the Israeli regime’s ongoing desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The targeted settler was critically wounded during the ambush and later succumbed to his injuries, according to Israeli media reports. The occupation forces (IOF) launched a massive manhunt before claiming to have detained the wounded Palestinian resistance fighter after he was transferred to a hospital.
A Practical Response to Al-Aqsa Incursions
The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the al-Quds Brigades—the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)—swiftly hailed the operation. Hamas described the strike as a “practical response” to the recent provocations by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who toured illegal excavation tunnels beneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Buraq Wall over the weekend.
Hamas stressed that the operation is a legitimate and natural reaction to the continuous incursions and desecration of Al-Aqsa by Zionist settlers and occupation officials. “Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa remain a priority for the Palestinian people,” the movement declared, warning that such crimes would not go unanswered.
Similarly, the al-Quds Brigades commended the heroic act and issued a resounding call for Palestinians across the West Bank and occupied al-Quds to escalate confrontations with the occupation forces and violent settlers.
Netanyahu’s Provocation Condemned
Netanyahu publishes footage from his visit to the tunnels and excavations beneath Al-Aqsa Mosque, and says:
“We are now in the Holy of Holies, and no one can be in this place but us.”
The resistance operation comes on the heels of a highly provocative incursion by Netanyahu into the Buraq Wall plaza and the subterranean tunnels of Al-Aqsa on Saturday night. Accompanied by far-right government ministers and large mobs of settlers, the Zionist premier made inflammatory remarks concerning the so-called “Holy of Holies,” claiming exclusive rights to the space.
In a stern statement, Hamas condemned the raid as a “blatant assault on the identity and status of the Islamic holy site.” The movement emphasised that Netanyahu’s actions—undertaken despite the active arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes—will not alter the exclusively Islamic identity of Al-Aqsa. Hamas called upon the Arab and Muslim worlds to take decisive action to defend the sacred site from the occupation’s ongoing Judaisation schemes and excavations.
Escalating Settler Terror
Sunday’s resistance operation also highlights the urgent need to counter the surge in state-backed settler terrorism across the West Bank. According to UN OCHA, more than 1,600 settler attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties or property destruction were recorded between January and August of 2026 alone—an average of nearly seven attacks every day. At least 23 Palestinians have been murdered by extremist settlers in the West Bank this year.
As the Zionist regime intensifies its aggression against both the Palestinian people and their religious sanctities, the resistance factions continue to send a clear message: every act of desecration against Al-Aqsa, and every drop of Palestinian blood spilled by settlers, will be met with unwavering and decisive resistance.
Reference: Al-Mayadeen