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At least two Palestinians were killed Tuesday as Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, the Palestinian health ministry and the Israeli army said.The military said troops opened fire and “eliminated” two Palestinians who had attempted to steal a soldier’s weapon as the “counterterrorism operation” was underway in the old city of Nablus.The Palestinian health ministry said authorities had been informed by Israel of the deaths of Nidal Amira, 40, and Khaled Amira, 35. It did not specify whether the two were related.The Israeli military said one soldier was “moderately injured” and three others lightly in the incident.AFPTV footage showed Israeli soldiers standing in one of the old city’s narrow streets, next to two dead bodies.An AFP journalist said dozens of military vehicles entered Nablus’s historic centre shortly after midnight (2100 GMT Monday). A curfew had been announced over loudspeakers the day before.At a major square outside the old city, young men and boys gathered on Tuesday to burn tyres and throw stones at the Israeli armoured vehicles.The Palestine Red Crescent Society said that during the Israeli raid, at least three people were injured from bullet shrapnel, four from “physical assault”, and dozens more from tear gas inhalation.It added that ambulances were blocked from entering the old city, obstructing the work of medical teams.Israel said in a statement that its forces had searched “250 structures” and arrested “six wanted individuals” during Tuesday’s operation.The northern West Bank, where Nablus is located, has been the target of a major Israeli offensive since late January.Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and its forces regularly carry out raids that authorities say target Palestinian militants.An AFP correspondent in Nablus saw Israeli soldiers searching shops and detaining several people for questioning on Tuesday.The correspondent said Israeli flags were raised over the roofs of buildings taken over by the troops and used as temporary bases.The old city of Nablus has seen several major Israeli raids, including in 2022 and 2023 during large-scale operations targeting a local grouping of armed fighters, and in 2002 during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising.Violence has surged in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, triggered by the unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.The Palestinian Authority says at least 938 Palestinians, including fighters but also many civilians, have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers since October 2023.Over the same period, at least 35 Israelis including civilians and soldiers have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military raids, according to official Israeli figures.

Britain and four allies joined forces Tuesday to sanction two Israeli ministers for “repeated incitements of violence” against Palestinians, upping their condemnation of Israel’s actions around the war in Gaza.Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir will be banned from entering the UK and will have any assets in the country frozen, Britain’s foreign ministry said in a statement.The announcement was a rare joint action alongside Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway and comes as the Israeli government faces growing international criticism over its conduct of the conflict with Hamas.The sanction sees the five countries break from Israel’s closest ally, the United States.Ben Gvir and Smotrich “have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights”, the foreign ministers of the five countries said in a joint statement.”These actions are not acceptable. This is why we have taken action now –- to hold those responsible to account,” they added.Smotrich and Ben Gvir are part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fragile ruling coalition.Both have drawn criticism for their hard-line stance on the war in Gaza and comments about settlements in the occupied West Bank, the other Palestinian territory.Smotrich, who lives in a West Bank settlement, has supported the expansion of settlements and has increasingly called for the territory’s annexation.Last month, he said Gaza would be “entirely destroyed” and that civilians would “start to leave in great numbers to third countries”.Ben Gvir has also called for Gazans to be resettled from the besieged territory.UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the pair have used “horrendous extremist language” and that he would “encourage the Israeli government to disavow and condemn that language”.Earlier, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel had been informed by Britain of its sanctions decision, describing the move as “outrageous”.The UK foreign ministry said in its statement that “extremist settlers have carried out over 1,900 attacks against Palestinian civilians since January last year”.- ‘Personal capacity’ -It said the five countries were “clear that the rising violence and intimidation by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities in the West Bank must stop”.”Measures today cannot be seen in isolation from events in Gaza where Israel must uphold international humanitarian law,” the foreign ministry said. It added that the UK and its partners “support Israel’s security and will continue to work with the Israeli government to strive to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza”.”Hamas must release the hostages immediately, and there must be a path to a two-state solution with Hamas having no role in future governance,” it added.The action comes after the British government suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel last month and summoned its ambassador over the conduct of the war.It also announced financial restrictions and travel bans on several prominent settlers, as well as two illegal outposts and two organisations accused of backing violence against Palestinian communities.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said the war in Gaza “hurts my whole body” as he delivered an emotional speech while being honoured by the University of Manchester.Guardiola, 54, was speaking as he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Manchester on Monday.”It’s so painful what we see in Gaza, it hurts my whole body,” Guardiola said in excerpts of his speech shared on social media.”Let me be clear, it’s not about ideology. It’s not about whether I’m right, or you’re wrong. It’s just about the love of life, about the care of your neighbour.”Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza after the attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 54,981 people, the majority civilians, have been killed in the territory since the start of the war. The UN considers these figures reliable.”Maybe we think that we see the boys and girls of four years old being killed by the bomb or being killed at the hospital because it’s not a hospital anymore, it’s not our business,” Guardiola.”Yes, fine, we can think about that, it’s not our business. But be careful. The next one will be ours. The next four or five-year-old kids will be ours. “Sorry, but I see my kids, Maria, Marius and Valentina when I see every morning, since the nightmare started, the infants in Gaza, and I’m so scared.”Guardiola has not shied away from voicing political views in the past, throwing his weight behind the campaign for Catalan independence.He was awarded the honorary degree by the University of Manchester for his unprecedented success at City, where he has won six Premier League titles, as well as his work through his family foundation, the Guardiola Sala Foundation.The organsisation takes part in “established projects which strive to support the most disadvantaged”.Others within football have spoken out on Gaza.In October 2023, Liverpool and Egypt forward  Mohamed Salah called on “world leaders to come together to “prevent further slaughter of innocent souls”.The following month Bundesliga club Mainz sacked Dutch winger Anwar El Ghazi, now at Cardiff, over social media posts related to the conflict.