Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

4 min read | 8:10 pm CAT

In this week’s edition of the Palestine Report with Radio Islam International, Hafez Ebrahim Moosa discusses the latest updates in the West Bank.

The Occupied West Bank is volatile, just days before the Israeli election. Hafez Moosa said the Arin al-Usud (The Lion’s Den) armed resistance group captured the imaginations of Palestinians, now emerging as a critical battleground.

The latest development, according to Hafez Ebrahim the Israelis are imposing another siege, this time besieging Nablus, and this comes after the Israeli blockade on the Shuafat Refugee camp in Jerusalem that has now been lifted.

“Unlike Shuafat, Nablus is huge and is an important commercial, industrial centre in the West Bank,” he says.

Some of the most hardened Arin al-Usud group fighters inside Nablus continue to send messages to the Palestinian population. Hafez Moosa said Palestinians in Nablus and other cities in the West Bank in Gaza responded favourably to what the group was saying.

According to Hafez Moosa, the Arin al-Usud group sends messages via telegram. One of the messages sent last week Sunday tells Palestinians to chant “Allahu Akbar” from their rooftops at midnight.

There was a massive response to this in solidarity with the group. Hafez Moosa said people from all across Palestine sent recordings of the entire communities following the call announced by the group.

A senior member of the Arin al-Usud group was killed in an explosion in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, in what the newly formed Palestinian armed resistance group has called a targeted assassination by Israel.

Several Palestinian factions paid tribute to Kilani, with the Fatah movement describing his killing as a “cowardly assassination”. A day of mourning has been declared in Nablus.

Meanwhile, there is a disappointment as Hamas officially restores ties with the Asad Regime. As per the latest reports, Hamas also seeks to reopen its office in Damascus.

“The effects of this is going to be major, according to analysts, on the reputation of Hamas in the wider Muslim world as well as Palestinians,” says Hafez Moosa.

Listen to the Palestine Report with Moulana Sulaimaan Ravat and Hafez Ebrahim Moosaon Radio Islam’s podcast below.