Israeli Army claims taking out Islamic Jihad members in West Bank sweep

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has eliminated several militants from the radical Palestinian organization Islamic Jihad in the West Bank city of Jenin, the IDF press service said.

The IDF claimed that a strike from an Israeli combat aircraft hit the radicals while they were traveling in a car outside Jenin. Among them were "two senior Islamic Jihad operatives," the IDF said, TASS reports.

One of the operatives was Ahmed Barakat, who carried out a terrorist attack in the Jewish settlement of Hermesh in May 2023, killing Israeli citizen Meir Tamari. The other target was Muhammad Shuakhin, "an Islamic Jihad commander of terrorist infrastructure in the area of Jenin," the press service said.

The other two radicals killed in the strike were also involved in terrorist activities, the IDF said.

Tensions flared up in the Middle East after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip attacked Israeli territory on October 7, when many Israelis living in the settlements near the border were killed and about 240 people, including children, women and the elderly, were taken hostage. Hamas views its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ steps against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, and then proceeded to carry out a ground operation in the enclave. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.