The Israeli occupation forces assassinated three young Palestinians in Nablus, the occupied West Bank, an Al Mayadeen correspondent reported Tuesday.

The IOF opened fire at the vehicle the young men were aboard before preventing ambulance crews from accessing the site where they had been assassinated.

The three young men attempted to open fire on a group of soldiers from the 603rd combat engineering battalion, "Tel Aviv" claimed in a statement following the assassination.

"A vehicle with three armed individuals pulled into a neighborhood near Nablus, and an armed man got out and began shooting at the soldiers stationed there," Israeli media quoted the IOF as saying.

المركبة التي استهدفها جنود الاحتلال قرب بوابة الطور على جبل جرزيم في نابلس صباح اليوم، وبداخلها ثلاثة شبان. pic.twitter.com/cl2zFCQ2wg

— Ultra Palestine - الترا فلسطين (@palestineultra) July 25, 2023

"Our vehicles scrambled to the site, but they were prevented from entry," a spokesperson for the Red Crescent Society in Nablus said. "We contacted the Red Cross, but our cars were treated arbitrarily and prevented us from arriving. Thus far, no details have been confirmed; even the number of injuries is uncertain, except for what the other party announced about them being three young men."

Palestinian news agency WAFA reported earlier that two young men were injured in Nablus during confrontations with the Israeli occupation forces after they had encircled a house east of the governorate.

The Israeli occupation forces upped their state of alert in the vicinity of Nablus following the confrontation, also closing the entrance to Beita before forcing shops owned in Huwara to shutter their businesses.

This comes hours after Israeli media reported that an Israeli-owned bus transporting illegal Israeli settlers came under fire in Huwara, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, claiming that no injuries were reported.

A statement by the Israeli occupation army confirmed that a shooting operation targeted an Israeli bus near the village of Huwara, which resulted in damage but no injuries.

The statement added that occupation forces were blocking roads and combing the area in search of the shooters.

Local Palestinian sources reported that Israeli occupation forces were deployed in the shooting scene, as they blocked Huwara Street, as well as Huwara and Za'tara checkpoints, south of Nablus, and forced shop owners to shut their businesses.

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