Israeli strike kills five Palestinians in West Bank, ministry says

Five Palestinian men have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a car in the north of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry says.

Two others were injured when a car in Tubas was hit by missiles in the early hours of Thursday. The Israeli military said it struck an “armed terrorist cell”.

Palestinian media also said a 16-year-old boy was shot dead by Israeli forces in the nearby al-Faraa refugee camp. The military said soldiers killed “a terrorist who was armed with an explosive device” in an exchange of fire and that a strike targeted others.

For nine days, Israeli forces have been raiding northern cities as part of what they say is a major counter-terrorism operation.

So far, at least 36 Palestinians have been killed, including 19 in Jenin governorate and 10 in Tubas, according to the health ministry.

Most of the dead have been claimed by armed groups as members, but the ministry says several children are also among them, including a 16-year-old girl who was shot in her home near Jenin on Tuesday.

One Israeli soldier has been killed during the fighting in Jenin.

A statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said soldiers and Israel Prison Service forces began an operation in Tubas and al-Faraa camp on Wednesday night.

It named one of the five men killed in the air strike in Tubas as Mohammed Zakaria Zubeidi, 21, and said he was “a significant terrorist from the Jenin area”.

He was also the son of Zakaria Zubeidi, the imprisoned former commander in Jenin of the Fatah movement’s armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and alleged mastermind of a jailbreak in 2021.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades confirmed in a statement that Mohammed Zubeidi and four other fighters were killed in what it called a “treacherous” Israeli strike.

Palestinian news agency Wafa also cited Palestinian Red Crescent sources as saying on Thursday that its crews had transferred the body of 16-year-old boy, Majed Fida Abu Zeina, from al-Faraa camp to a hospital in Tubas.

The sources said he was shot more than once by Israeli forces and that his body was dragged out of the camp by a military bulldozer.

The IDF said one of its aircraft had “struck armed terrorists who hurled explosives and shot at the security forces” during the operation in al-Faraa camp.

“In an exchange of fire, Israel Prison Service forces eliminated a terrorist who was armed with an explosive device,” it added.

The IDF provided no further details about the incidents, but it did release night-time aerial surveillance footage that appeared to show an unidentified person throwing an object that explodes before a missile targets them.

The Palestinian health ministry says three Palestinians have also been killed in the southern governorate of Hebron over the past nine days.

The Israeli military said one of them carried out a shooting attack that killed three Israeli police officers near Tarqumiyah on Sunday.

On Tuesday, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the IDF must use its “full strength” to combat what he called “the resurgence of terrorism” in the West Bank.

There has been a spike in violence in the territory since Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on 7 October and the ensuing war in Gaza.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed as Israeli forces have intensified their raids, saying they are trying to stem deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and Israel.