But how many of the dead were really killed by Israeli forces?
In an unusual tweet, an UNRWA official described the death of a former UNRWA teacher this way:
Abdelaziz Ashqar, 64 years old retired UNRWA staff was killed yesterday, a loving colleague who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was caught in a crossfire between Israeli military and armed residents in Nablus. Violence must stop. Civilians must always be protected.
If UNRWA doesn't blame Israel for the death of a colleague, that is a pretty good indication that they know that he was killed by Palestinian militants.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights seems to know the truth as well. Even though they accuse Israel of killing seven militants and three civilians, the circumstances for the deaths of the terrorists and civilians couldn't be more different:
According to PCHR’s investigations and eyewitnesses’ testimonies, at around 10:00 on Wednesday, 22 February 2023, an Israeli special force sneaked via a truck belonging to al-Sharq Company for Transportation into the eastern vegetables market in Nablus that is usually crowded at this time. The Force stationed near a 3-storey old house belonging to Waleed Riyadh Hussein al-Tawil and tightened the cordon off the house. Shortly after, IOF heavily armored by military vehicles and a drone moved into the city and started intensively shooting and firing projectiles at the cordoned house, where 3 members of the Palestinian armed group were fortified. Violent clashes broke out in the area and extended to several streets in the City. As a result, 10 Palestinians, including 3 civilians, were killed. The civilians were identified as Mohammed Farid Mohammed Sha’aban (16), ‘Abdel ‘Aziz Mohammed ‘Abdel ‘Aziz Ashqar (65), who were both shot in front of al-Rahma clinic: one in the left shoulder and chest and the other in the chest, and a 73-year-old elderly namely ‘Adnan Sabe’a B’arah (73), who was shot with 8 bullets in the neck, mouth, head and chest when he was in the vegetables market. Meanwhile, the armed group members were identified as Mohammed Khaled Majdi ‘Anbousi (24); Mos’ab Munir ‘Aweis (25); Tamer Nemer Ahmed al-Minawi (33); and Jaser Jamil ‘Abdel Wahab Kan’ir (22), who were all shot with several bullets in their heads during armed clashes.After IOF’s withdrawal at around 13:00, three bodies were pulled from the targeted house, which sustained severe destruction. Those recovered were members of the Palestinian armed groups and identified as Walid Riyadh Hussein al-Dakhil (23), who was shot in the head and sustained fractures due to the house destruction; Husam Bassam Bashir Salim (23), who was shot in the neck and abdomen and sustained fractures as well; and Mohammed ‘Omer ‘Abdel Ghani ‘Abdel Fattah (23), who was shot with more than 20 bullets all over his body.
All of the terrorists killed were in the house. All of the civilians killed were outside, in the vegetable market or the clinic.
Palestinian groups were firing at the IDF from a several block radius.
What are the chances that the IDF, quite knowledgeable about the laws of armed conflict, shot at a vegetable market and clinic? Even if they were fired upon from those directions, one would expect their return fire would have hit at least one of the shooters - but the narrative is that they only hit civilians!
AP reported, "In the Old City of Nablus, people stared at the rubble that had been a large home in the centuries-old marketplace. From one end to the other, shops were riddled with bullets. "
The IDF is a professional army. They do not fire randomly at buildings. But Palestinian militants do indeed fire wildly. We've seen this many times.
It is far more likely that the shooters from around Nablus were firing indiscriminately and hit the Palestinian civilians. And the Palestinian propaganda machine made sure that the first story to reach the media was that Israel killed all of the ten.
Even UNRWA seems to know that this isn't true.
UPDATE 1: UNRWA took down the tweet after Palestinians were upset at the idea that it wasn't Israeli fire that killed civilians.
UPDATE 2: Joe Truzman shows video of militants wildly firing in Nablus, very close to civilians.
