Israeli attack kills five Palestinians in West Bank, ministry says – FBC News

(Source: BBC)

Five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike in the north of the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Two others were injured when a car was hit in Tubas early Thursday. The Israeli military said it had hit an “armed terrorist cell” and armed groups described the dead as militants.

Palestinian media also reported that a 16-year-old boy was shot dead by Israeli forces in the nearby al-Faraa refugee camp. The military said forces had “killed a terrorist armed with an explosive device” in an exchange of fire and that one attack targeted others.

For nine days, Israeli forces have been carrying out raids on cities in the north of the country as part of what they describe as a large-scale anti-terror operation.

So far, at least 36 Palestinians have been killed, including 21 from Jenin province and eight from Tubas, according to the Health Ministry.

Most of the dead are claimed to be members of armed groups, but the ministry says several children are among them, including a 16-year-old girl who was shot dead in her home near Jenin on Tuesday.

An Israeli soldier was killed in the fighting in Jenin.

A statement by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said soldiers and Israel Prison Service forces began an operation in Tubas and al-Faraa camp on Wednesday evening.

Among the five men killed in the airstrike in Tubas was Mohammed Zakaria Zubeidi (21). He was said to be “a major terrorist from the Jenin area”.

He was also the son of Zakaria Zubeidi, the imprisoned former commander of the Fatah movement’s armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Jenin, and suspected mastermind of a 2021 prison break.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades confirmed in a statement that Mohammed Zubeidi and four other fighters were killed in what they considered a “treacherous” Israeli attack.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa also quoted Palestinian Red Crescent sources on Thursday as saying that its forces had taken the body of 16-year-old boy Majed Fida Abu Zeina from the al-Faraa camp to a hospital in Tubas.

According to the sources, he was shot more than once by Israeli forces and his body was dragged out of the camp by a military bulldozer.

The Israeli military said one of its aircraft hit “armed terrorists who were throwing explosives and firing at security forces” during the operation in al-Faraa camp.

“In an exchange of fire, Israel Prison Service forces eliminated a terrorist armed with an explosive device,” it said.

The Israel Defense Forces did not provide further details about the incidents, but released nighttime aerial surveillance footage that appears to show an unidentified person throwing an object that explodes before being hit by a rocket.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, three Palestinians were also killed in the southern province of Hebron in the past nine days.

The Israeli military said one of them carried out a shooting attack on Sunday that killed three Israeli police officers near Tarqumiyah.

On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the Israeli military must use its “full strength” to combat what he called a “resurgence of terrorism” in the West Bank.

Since Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent war in the Gaza Strip, there has been an increase in violence in the territory.

Hundreds of Palestinians were killed as Israeli forces intensified their attacks, saying they were trying to curb deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and inside Israel.