The Israeli military launched several airstrikes in the city of Jenin on Friday, as its raid on the West Bank enters its third day.
Israeli military officials said that an airstrike was carried out on Friday morning in the city of Jenin in the West Bank amid the ongoing war with Hamas militants in Gaza.
In a statement obtained by The Associated Press (AP), the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said that a military aircraft "struck a terrorist cell during an encounter with security forces in a counterterrorism operation in the area of Jenin."
While airstrikes have been frequent during the monthslong Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, they have been relatively rare in the West Bank during this time.
Earlier this week, Israeli military officials announced that they carried out a raid in the West Bank, specifically Jenin, which is widely seen as a militia stronghold during the ongoing war, as well as the city of Tulkarem and the Al-Faraa refugee camp.
Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said that "large forces" carried out the raid, noting that nine individuals, who were identified as militants, died. Five other suspected militants were arrested following the raid in the West Bank, Shoshani said, who also noted that the recent operation is part of a larger scale effort to prevent attacks against Israelis.
As of Friday, the ongoing raids in the West Bank by Israel have resulted in at least 16 fatalities, and nearly all were considered militants. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, more than 600 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the ongoing war.
The war in Gaza began after Hamas launched an attack against Israel last October, killing 1,250 people. Earlier this month, the Gaza Health Ministry announced that the Palestinian death toll had surpassed 40,000 since the start of the war.
Following the airstrike on Friday, Palestinian officials said that three Palestinians were killed. The Israeli military reported that its troops identified and killed a militant, Waseem Hazem, while he was driving. When two other individuals in the car, also identified by the military as militants, attempted to flee, they were killed in an airstrike.
The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that the three individuals were killed in Zababdeh, a town south of Jenin, but has not yet confirmed their identities.
Following the beginning of strikes on the West Bank earlier this week, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that "the IDF is working intensively from tonight in the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps to thwart Islamic-Iranian terrorist infrastructures that have been established there."
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press
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