JENIN, West Bank, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Israel’s military said it carried out an airstrike in the West Bank on Friday that killed a Palestinian it described as a Hamas militant operative as well as two of his accomplices, in a rare use of deadly Israeli air power in the occupied territory.
Hamas condemned the strike but did not claim the person targeted — whom the Israeli military named as Qais Bitawi — as a member. The strike targeted a car in the area of Jenin in the northern West Bank, the military and medics said.
Islamic Jihad said in a statement Bitawi was a senior operative of its armed wing.
The West Bank has seen a surge in militant Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians as well as military raids into Palestinian towns. The northern West Bank, where Jenin sits, was the site of a major Israeli assault last year, which the military says was aimed at targeting militant strongholds.
In a statement, the military said Bitawi was involved in directing, funding and executing attacks on Israeli civilians and security forces. It said he maintained ties with Hamas members in Gaza, where the group is based, as well as abroad.
The Palestine Red Crescent ambulance service said Israeli ground troops raided the site of the drone strike, briefly detained medics and prevented them from transporting those wounded or killed to hospital.
Israel’s military did not immediately provide comment on the ambulance service’s statements.
Israel’s 2025 operations in the northern West Bank forced thousands of Palestinians from their homes, with Israeli forces clearing out refugee camps and maintaining their longest presence in some West Bank cities for decades.
Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity over what it said were forced expulsions. Israel denies committing such crimes.
In Gaza, where the U.S. has been working to salvage a deal that would disarm Hamas militants in exchange for Israel withdrawing from the territory, at least five Palestinians were killed in three Israeli strikes on Friday, Gaza health officials said.
Those incidents included an Israeli strike near Deir Al-Balah that killed three people from the same family; a strike on a motorbike that killed one in Gaza City; and a separate strike in Gaza City that killed one Palestinian, according to health officials.
The Israeli military did not immediately provide comment on the strikes.
(Reporting by Mohamad Torokman, Ali Sawafta, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Rami Ayyub; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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