The Israeli military says it has killed the leader of the Palestinian armed group Hamas in Jenin and two other fighters, as a major operation in the northern occupied West Bank continues for a third day.
Israeli security forces shot dead Wissam Khazem and then carried out airstrikes on the other two as they tried to flee, a statement said.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said the three men were killed overnight near the town of Zababdeh, southeast of Jenin. Hamas also confirmed their deaths.
The ministry reported that an elderly man was later killed by Israeli gunfire in Jenin itself, as Israeli forces withdrew from Tulkarm and the refugee camps there.
At least 20 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the Israeli operation, one of the largest in the West Bank in two decades, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Armed groups have identified most of them as fighters.
According to the Israeli military, 20 “terrorists” were killed in gun battles and airstrikes and 17 suspects were arrested in what the military described as “a precise, targeted regional operation in three terror centers.”
Since Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent war in Gaza, there has been an increase in violence in the West Bank.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed as Israeli forces intensify their attacks, saying they want to prevent deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and inside Israel.
On Friday morning, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Shin Bet internal security service and the Israel Border Police released a joint statement announcing that Wissam Khazem had been killed during an operation in the Jenin area.
Border police forces were said to have “found and neutralised” Khazem in a car, accusing him of carrying out and directing shootings and bombings.
Shortly afterwards, it added, an IDF aircraft “took out two additional terrorists as they attempted to flee from the vehicle,” naming them Maysara Masharqa and Arafat Amer, and claiming they had taken part in shootings.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that the three men were killed in Zababdeh and their bodies taken away by Israeli forces.
Residents of the city found the burnt-out wreck of a car riddled with bullet holes and reported two drone strikes.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, confirmed that Khazem was a leader in the Jenin camp and that Masharqa and Amer were members.
Also in Jenin itself, Israeli forces continued their operations for the third day in a row.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa quoted the Palestinian Red Crescent as saying that a man from an eastern neighborhood of the city was shot dead by Israeli forces on Friday night and that the ambulance carrying his body to a local hospital later came under fire.
Wafa identified the dead man as Tawfiq Qandil, 82.
Meanwhile, residents of Tulkarm and the refugee camps inspected damage to homes and infrastructure following the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
A woman in Nur Shams camp, Umm Yazan, told the BBC that soldiers had laid wires from her house to blow up two houses across the street.
“I have 10-year-old triplets and they locked us in a room,” she said. “Then they started the explosions — five explosions in total. Imagine the walls shaking and your young children clinging to you. It feels like we’re in Gaza.”
The Israeli military said on Thursday it had killed “five terrorists hiding in a mosque,” including Mohammed Jaber, the leader of the local Tulkarm Brigade, which is affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
According to Wafa, four Palestinians were killed during the 48-hour operation.
Jaber was buried on Friday in Nur Shams, along with 69-year-old Ayed Abu Hajja, a disabled man who neighbors said was shot by a sniper when he opened a window of his home in the camp.
Also on Thursday, the Israeli military announced that troops had withdrawn from the al-Faraa refugee camp near Tubas, after achieving what it called “the goal of thwarting terror, exposing terrorist infrastructure and eliminating armed terrorists.”
According to Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, tens of thousands of people in four refugee camps have been affected by the raids and the organization has had to suspend its services in several camps.
As the war in Gaza continues, the Israeli operation is causing international unrest.
The UK said on Friday that while it recognises Israel’s need to defend itself against security threats, it is “deeply concerned by the methods Israel has used and by reports of civilian casualties and the destruction of civilian infrastructure”.
“The risk of instability is serious and the need for de-escalation is urgent,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday that the raids were “inflaming an already explosive situation”.
