By Chris Summers
Contributing Writer
Israeli says it has killed an Islamic Jihad commander and four other Palestinian terrorists during an operation in the West Bank, the day after it launched a massive military operation.
There has been no independent confirmation of the death of Mohammed Jaber, known as Abu Shujaa, in the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm.
But an image posted on social media appeared to show the bloodied body of Jaber, who had appeared in numerous videos in which he threatened Israel and predicted he would not die a “natural death.”
The Israeli military said Jaber was killed along with four others during a shootout with Israeli forces in Nur Shams, early Thursday.
The Israel Defense Forces said the five had hidden in a mosque.
The IDF said Abu Shujaa was linked to numerous attacks on civilians, including a fatal gun attack in June.
Last year he was reported to have been killed, only to pop up at the funeral of other gunmen, where he was hoisted onto the shoulders of a cheering crowd.
The IDF launched a massive counter-terrorist operation in Tulkarm and nearby Jenin, in the northern West Bank, on Tuesday night and on Wednesday said they had killed 10 Hamas fighters.
A member of Israel’s paramilitary Border Police was lightly wounded in the operation, according to the Israeli military spokesman.
The armed wings of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah said in separate statements on Wednesday their fighters were taking on the Israeli military in Jenin, Tulkarm and Far’a, a town in the Jordan Valley.
Hamas has been largely focused on fighting Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, where the Hamas-controlled health ministry says 40,000 people have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023.
Around 600 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, since Hamas launched its attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
At least 30 Israeli citizens have been killed in attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank during the same period.
Hamas has called on Palestinians in the West Bank to rise up and “join the sacred battle” against Israel.
‘Islamic-Iranian Terror Infrastructures’
In a post on social media platform X, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said: “The IDF has been operating since last night in the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps to dismantle Islamic-Iranian terror infrastructures established there.”
“Iran is working to destabilize Jordan and establish an eastern terror front against Israel, following the Gaza and Lebanon models, by funding and arming terrorists and smuggling advanced weapons into Jordan and then into Judea and Samaria,” he added, using the Israeli term for the West Bank.
Katz said, “We must address this threat by all necessary means, including, in some cases of intense combat, allowing the population to temporarily evacuate from one neighborhood to another within the refugee camp to prevent civilian harm and to enable the dismantling of terror infrastructures established there.”
The Vice President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, responded on X, “The Israeli major military operation in the occupied West Bank must not constitute the premises of a war extension from Gaza, including full-scale destruction.”
“The parallel drew by minister Katz, especially on evacuating Palestinian residents, threatens to fuel further instability,” he added.
Borrell said on Thursday he had started the process of asking EU member states if they wanted to impose sanctions on “some Israeli ministers.”
He told reporters in Brussels, “I initiated the procedure to ask the member states if they consider [it] appropriate to include in our list of sanctions some Israeli ministers [who] have been launching unacceptable hate messages against the Palestinians, and proposing things that clearly go against international law.”
On Wednesday evening, Katz posted on X, “We are working tirelessly with our European allies to prevent anti-Israel decisions at tomorrow’s EU Foreign Ministers meeting, pushed by anti-Israel elements.”
“Our message is clear: In a reality where Israel faces threats from Iran and its proxy terror organizations, the free world must stand with Israel, not against it,” he added.
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
