Israel said it killed two senior Hamas militants in an airstrike on their car in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, claiming the militants were involved in the killing of an Israeli.
A joint statement from the Israel Security Agency and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) identified the militants as Ahmed Abu Ara and Rafet Dawasi, both from the northern West Bank district around Jenin.
In a statement, Hamas's Al-Qassam Brigades military wing said it mourned the death of two fighters in an Israeli airstrike on their vehicle in Jenin.
An Israeli statement said the two militants were involved in planning an attack on Sunday in the West Bank's Jordan Valley, in which an Israeli man, Yonatan Deutsch, was killed.
Israeli authorities said at the time that Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a main road in the occupied West Bank, killing one person and wounding another.
On the same day, the al-Qassam Brigades said its West Bank-based fighters killed an Israeli soldier at close range near the Mehola settlement in the Jordan Valley and “returned to their base safely.”
Hamas said the operation was in retaliation for an Israeli attack on a school where Palestinian refugees were taking shelter in Gaza City. The civil defense service said the attack killed at least 90 people.
Violence in the West Bank has escalated since the war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas erupted following a Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages in Israel.
Israel's counter-offensive in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the territory's health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its tally.
In an act condemned by the United States, Britain and France, Israeli settlers killed at least one Palestinian on Thursday (August 15) in a raid on a village near the West Bank city of Qalqilya.
The latest violence in the West Bank comes as a new round of talks in Doha, the Qatari capital, aimed at ending 10 months of fighting in Gaza are set to resume next week. (ft)
