At least nine people, including a local commander of Hamas’s military wing, have been killed in two separate Israeli air strikes near Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank.
Medical sources confirmed to Al Jazeera on Saturday that one of the people killed in the first attack was Haitham Balidi, leader of the Qassam Brigades in the Nablus area. Another person was identified by a relative as one of the leaders of al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.
The identities of the other people were not immediately clear. Family members went to a hospital in Tulkarem to identify the dismembered bodies brought there.
The Israeli military said the car contained a “terrorist squad” that was on its way to carry out an attack, without providing evidence.
A few hours later, a second air attack on a vehicle in Bal’a, east of Tulkarem, killed four people, according to Wafa news agency.
Shortly after the initial attack, Israeli forces launched raids in Tulkarem, resulting in confrontations with Palestinian fighters. Israeli forces also fired tear gas at journalists who were covering the raid.
Air attacks in the occupied Palestinian territory have surged since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7, with authorities recording at least 29 strikes which killed more than 80 Palestinians.
The attacks took place as the Israeli army raided several towns across the West Bank.
In Tulkarem city, Israeli bulldozers destroyed infrastructure, while in Nablus Israeli soldiers rounded up three Palestinians, including a journalist. Other incursions were reported in Jenin, Faqqa, Deir Abu Daif, Bethlehem and near Ramallah. In occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli forces once again arrested activist Ramzi Abbasi after he had been released last November.
Since October 7, Israeli forces have killed more than 600 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 144 children.
Meanwhile, ground Israeli raids and mass arrests in the West Bank have also ballooned over the same period, becoming a nearly daily occurrence.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society watchdog says more than 9,300 people have ended up in Israeli prisons. Of these, at least 3,400 are in so-called administrative detention, a controversial practice that allows Israel to hold suspects for extended periods without having committed an offence.
Israeli incursion in cities and towns across the occupied West Bank is also causing major disruption for civilian life. The UNRWA agency for Palestinian refugees said on Friday that the situation in the West Bank is worsening daily in what it described as a “silent war” amid water shortages and electricity outages.
Since 1967, the West Bank has been under Israeli occupation. In a landmark, yet non-binding ruling, the International Court of Justice last month declared Israel’s continued presence unlawful.
