Violent clashes erupted in Nablus after Israeli soldiers infiltrated Joseph's Tomb early Monday morning east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
The soldiers rushed in to offer protection to Jewish settlers who went there to perform religious rituals.
Palestinian youth responded to the raid with stones and Molotov cocktails, as the army proceeded to pursue them, witnesses reported.
They added that more than 40 Israeli patrols and over ten busloads of settlers gathered at the Beit Fourik checkpoint east of the city, and several trucks carrying stones made it to the site after Israeli soldiers secured the area and Palestinian security forces withdrew.
Locals reported that the soldiers evacuated their homes detained them in rooms to use them as control points near the site of the operation.
Witnesses told the PIC that the settlers came by foot to the tomb – for the first time ever – at 3am under protection of the army.
Locals considered the move a provocation and said the settlers wanted to deliver the message that they will enter and do as they please.
They expected that the trucks of rocks would be used to renovate and fortify the tomb.
