Israeli strike kills Hamas commander in occupied West Bank

BBC:

At least 18 people including several Hamas fighters have been killed in an Israeli air strike in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said late on Thursday.

The Palestinian Authority-run news agency Wafa said the strike had hit a cafe in the Tulkarm refugee camp where many civilians were present.

Hamas confirmed that commander Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi was killed by the strike, who the IDF say attempted a car bombing last month and supplied weapons.

The Israeli military said the air strike was a joint operation with its Shin Bet security service, aimed at killing Oufi and “other significant terrorists”.

Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said on messaging app Telegram that seven of its fighters were killed in the attack on the cafe.

There was a further spike in violence in the West Bank after Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the ensuing war in Gaza, in what was already the occupied territory’s deadliest year on record.

Since then, more than 700 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, according to the Palestinian health ministry, as Israeli forces have intensified their raids. The IDF has said it is trying to stem deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and Israel.

The Israeli military has carried out dozens of air strikes in the occupied West Bank in the past year, but normally using drones or helicopters.

One resident from the area told AFP news agency the Israeli had “hit a cafeteria in a three-story building.”

“There are many victims in the hospital,” the resident added.