Israel’s military said Thursday it killed five Palestinian militants, including an Islamic Jihad commander, during an exchange of fire “within and near a mosque” in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem.
The firefight came after Israel on Wednesday launched one of the largest assaults on the occupied territory in years, with Foreign Minister Israel Katz calling for a Gaza-style operation in the West Bank to root out what he called “Islamic-Iranian terrorist infrastructure.”
After Israel mounted further raids early Thursday morning, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said among the five killed in the mosque was Muhhamad Jabber, known as Abu Shujaa, the leader of the local branch of the militant group Islamic Jihad.
Jabber had carried out numerous terror attacks, the IDF said, including a shooting attack in the West Bank city of Qalqilya in June, when an Israeli civilian was killed.
Later Thursday, the Islamic Jihad announced the “martyrdom” of Jabber, whom they said was the commander of the Tulkarem Battallion of the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the militant group.
The four others killed along with Jabber were related to his terror network and one more person has been apprehended, the IDF’s international spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said in a press briefing Thursday.
The IDF said it killed 12 terrorists during the first day of its operations in Jenin and Tulkarem, both in the north of the West Bank, as well as dismantling “dozens of explosive devices” that were planted under the roads.
