Palestinian terror leader, 3 gunmen killed as IDF troops raid Jenin camp

Four Palestinian terrorists, including a senior leader, were killed in exchanges of fire with Israeli troops Monday as the military conducted a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin.

Wiam Iyad Hanoun, 27, identified online as a founder of the Islamic Jihad offshoot Jenin Brigade, was killed by Israeli fire, as were three other gunmen, amid heavy fighting in the city’s refugee camp, the Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported.

The three other gunmen killed were named as Amir Abdullah Sharbaji, 25, Nawras Ibrhaim Zidane Bajawi, 28, and Musa Khaled Jayarin, 23.

The military said troops of the elite Haruv, Duchifat and Duvdevan infantry units, along with Border Police officers and soldiers of the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit, entered the Jenin Refugee Camp.

According to Wafa, 100 military vehicles entered the city along with bulldozers early in the morning.

Videos from the scene showed Israeli bulldozers tearing up streets and building barriers out of debris. Jenin’s iconic arched gate in the city center was one of the casualties of the destruction. In the past, terror operatives have posed in front of the gate for photos.

The soldiers located and destroyed explosive devices hidden under streets, a booby-trapped command room, and a car with ammunition and military gear, according to the IDF.

The IDF said that soldiers also detained one suspect after weapon parts were found in his vehicle.

The army said troops clashed with Palestinian gunmen, and a drone strike was also carried out against a number of armed men “in order to remove the threat.”

The military wing of the Hamas terror group, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said it fought Israeli forces entering the city, including by deploying explosive devices, the Palestinian Shehab news site reported

Footage shared online showed troops continuing to operate in the city in daylight.

The Jenin camp is a major hub for terrorists. In July, the IDF entered the camp for a large-scale two-day incursion targeting the local Islamic Jihad wing, as well as other smaller armed groups. Palestinian health officials said 14 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded during Israeli airstrikes and in clashes with Israeli forces on July 3-5; according to the IDF, all of the slain Palestinians were involved in the fighting.

Early Monday, soldiers also raided Nablus, where they arrested a senior Hamas member, Nasr al-Din al-Sha’ar, in his home, according to media reports.

The IDF later said troops had detained 51 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank overnight, including 38 Hamas members.

Since the war in the Gaza Strip began on October 7, troops have arrested at least 1,030 wanted Palestinians in the West Bank, including some 700 affiliated with Hamas, according to the military.

There have been numerous clashes between IDF forces and Palestinians in the West Bank in recent weeks, and several attempted terror attacks, the IDF says.

According to data from the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry, at least 118 West Bank Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, and in some cases settlers, since October 7.

Shin Bet head Ronen Bar has warned the war cabinet and the defense establishment of “fears about an eruption” of violence in the West Bank, Channel 12 reported Sunday evening.

“The specific warning notes a rise in violence by settlers [and] incidents between settlers and Palestinians that result in the deaths of Palestinians.”

Channel 12 said the US and EU are also warning that the West Bank is at a boiling point.

“These incidents are likely to set the area alight” and harm the war effort against Hamas, the report quoted Israeli sources as saying. It said some Israeli “decision-makers” are urging far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir “to take responsibility and calm things down.”

Violence has spiked in the West Bank since October 7, after throngs of Hamas-led terrorists poured from Gaza into Israel under the cover of massive rocket fire, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping some 230 more.

In response to the onslaught, Israel launched an offensive aimed at destroying Hamas’s infrastructure and vowing to eliminate the entire terror group, which rules the Strip. It says it is targeting all areas where Hamas operates while seeking to minimize civilian casualties.

In air and artillery strikes that Israel has carried out the past three weeks, the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza says over 8,000 people have been killed in the Strip. The figures cannot be independently verified and include Palestinian terrorists killed fighting the IDF as well as civilians killed as a result of errant rockets launched by terror groups.

Source » timesofisrael.com