The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has lauded the retaliatory attack on Israeli occupation forces in the occupied West Bank.

On Thursday, three Israeli troopers were injured while conducting an illegal patrol in the occupied West Bank as Tel Aviv further tightens its grip on the Palestinian territory amid its brutal campaign in the Gaza Strip.

This is the “natural response” to the ongoing Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip, Hamas said in a statement on Thursday.

Hamas described the shooting as a retaliatory attack in response to the regime forces and Zionist settlers’ crimes in the occupied West Bank and in reaction to the provocations of Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, including his recent illegal intrusion into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East al-Quds.

Local Palestinian media reports said that an unidentified gunman in a drive-by shooting fired upon the three Israeli forces on the road between Qalqilya and Nablus near the towns of Azzun and an-Nabi Elyas.

Video footage from the aftermath of the attack showed Israeli ambulance crews treating the injured.

The Israeli military confirmed the attack, saying three Israeli troopers had sustained injuries.

The Israeli military added that Tel Aviv had ordered bolstering the Zionist forces’ presence in the region and the surrounding areas.

Tel Aviv officials have ordered the Israeli forces to raid the Palestinian villages near the shooting scene to find the suspected shooter(s).

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Wednesday that Israeli forces have destroyed, or ordered the destruction, of 1,247 Palestinian-owned buildings in the West Bank, with 481 of them being homes. This has led to the displacement of 2,836 Palestinians, including 1,245 children.

Since the start of the genocidal war on Gaza, the OCHA has documented 1,143 incidents of Israeli settlers’ attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Out of these settlers’ attacks, 108 caused injuries, 916 resulted in damage to Palestinian property, and 119 led to both casualties and property damage.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, the Tel Aviv regime has killed more than 39,175 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured over 90,403 others.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes, with many displaced multiple times.