Israeli strike kills Hamas commander in occupied West Bank

At least 18 people, including several Hamas militants, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the occupied West Bank town of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said late Thursday.

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

Hamas confirmed that the attack killed commander Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi, who the IDF said carried out a car bombing and supplied weapons last month.

The Israeli military said the airstrike was a joint operation with the Shin Bet security service aimed at killing Oufi and “other major terrorists.”

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

Following Hamas' deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, there was another spike in violence in the West Bank, already the deadliest year in the occupied territories on record.

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

The Israeli military has carried out dozens of airstrikes in the occupied West Bank over the past year, but usually with drones or helicopters.

A local resident told AFP that the Israeli had “hit a cafeteria in a three-story building.”

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

He was said to have planned another attack immediately and was killed along with several other Hamas operatives.

Wafa quoted a local official as saying that children and elderly people from several families were killed in the strike. There were also a large number of injured people.

A local cafe owner and brother of one of those killed told Reuters: “We are used to the sound of rockets, drones and explosive drones, but the sound was strong.”

“We have not heard this sound since 2002, during the second Palestinian uprising.”

Another witness, Abdallah Kanana, told the agency he was thrown from his chair as a result of the explosion.

The UN rights office condemned the attack in a statement on Friday.

“The attack is part of an extremely worrying pattern of unlawful use of force by ISF (Israeli Security Forces) in military-like operations in the West Bank, which have inflicted widespread harm on Palestinians and caused significant damage to buildings and infrastructure,” the UN said.

Tulkarm was one of the towns and Palestinian refugee camps targeted during an attack Major Israeli military operation in August.

Last month, U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk said major Israeli operations in the occupied West Bank were “on a scale not seen in the last two decades.”

According to Israeli officials, at least 24 Israelis, including members of the security forces, were killed by Palestinian attackers during the same period.