An officer and three soldiers sustained light to moderate injures Wednesday night after being targeted by an explosive that was detonated at the entrance of Joseph's Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus.
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According to the IDF, the troops were operating to secure the route for Jewish worshippers to the holy site – considered the burial place of the biblical patriarch Joseph.
Video: Footage featured on Palestinian media showed a large column of smoke billowing after the blast / Credit: Arab media
All four wounded were taken to the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, the military said.
Footage featured on Palestinian media showed a large column of smoke billowing after the blast. A local wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group claimed responsibility for the attack and Hamas praised it as a "message to the extremist occupation government that you have no security on any inch of our land, and you have no choice but to leave."
Clashes often erupt in Nablus, which is officially under complete Palestinian Authority control, particularly near Joseph's Tomb where the Israeli military regularly enters to accompany Jewish worshippers.
Dana Ben-Shimon, Hanan Greenwood and Yaron Doron contributed to this report.
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