Israeli special forces say a commander of a terror group was among five people killed in a shooting at a mosque in the occupied West Bank yesterday, amid the biggest operation there in two decades.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) He said Mohammed Jaber, known as Abu Shujaa, a commander of the Islamic Jihad militant group in the Nur Shams refugee camp, was killed along with other members of his group while they were hiding in the building.
The large-scale military campaign, launched on Tuesday evening and continuing into Wednesday, is still ongoing and has included raids across the north of the territory, including in the governorates of Nablus, Tulkarem, Jenin and Tubas.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says the death toll in the attack so far is at least 12, with reports that two children among the dead were killed as they passed a house that was targeted by an Israeli airstrike.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned “the loss of lives, including that of children” and called for “an immediate cessation of these operations.”
Israeli soldiers take up positions during an army operation in Tulkarm, in the northern occupied West Bank, on August 29.
A Palestinian boy raises his arm in the air as Israeli soldiers inspect what he is carrying during a raid in Jenin.
Israeli army armoured vehicles move along a road during a military operation in Tulkarm, in the northern occupied West Bank.
Israeli soldiers disembark from an armored vehicle as they take up position during an army operation in Tulkarem
The IDF said Mohammed Jaber (pictured), known as Abu Shujaa, a commander of the Islamic Jihad militant group in the Nur Shams refugee camp, was killed.
Violence has escalated in the West Bank since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack from Gaza sparked the war there.
Israel has carried out near-daily raids across the territory in the months since then, but this is believed to be the most extensive and coordinated operation since 2002 during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
The UN has warned that the situation in the occupied West Bank “could worsen dramatically if Israeli security forces continue to systematically use unlawful lethal force and ignore violence perpetrated by settlers.”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Thursday he has started the process of asking member states whether they want to impose sanctions on “some Israeli ministers.”
“I have initiated the procedure to ask member states whether they consider it appropriate to include on our sanctions list some Israeli ministers (who) have been launching unacceptable hate messages against Palestinians and proposing things that clearly go against international law,” he told reporters ahead of a meeting with EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
He did not name any of the Israeli ministers he was referring to.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that “at least four” Israeli army airstrikes had hit the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem on Monday night, leaving five people dead.
Members of a Palestinian family flee an Israeli raid in the Nur Shams camp near the town of Tulkarem
Among them were three Palestinian men and two boys aged 13 and 15, the agency said.
“Three of the victims, including the two children, were killed as they passed by the attacked house, which was located in one of the camp’s small, crowded alleys,” UNHCR said in a statement, citing multiple sources.
Israel said Abu Shujaa, who the IDF said was killed in a raid coordinated by the Shin Bet, was linked to numerous attacks against Israelis, including a deadly shooting in June, and was planning more.
He was reported dead earlier this year but then made a surprise appearance at the funeral of fellow militants, where he was lifted onto the shoulders of a cheering crowd.
There was no immediate confirmation of his death from the Palestinian side today.
Israeli military vehicles drive along a road during a raid in the northern town of Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank
The Israeli military said another militant was arrested in the operation in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, and a member of Israel’s paramilitary Border Police was lightly wounded.
Since the start of the Gaza war, at least 637 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers, according to UN figures.
At least 19 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during army operations in the West Bank, according to official Israeli figures.
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