JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said it killed five more terrorists, including a prominent local commander, in a major operation in the occupied West Bank early Thursday.
The death of Mohammed Jaber, known as Abu Shujaa, a commander of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, in Noor Shams refugee camp on the outskirts of the Palestinian-controlled city of Tulkarem, was not immediately confirmed by the Palestinian side.
He was reported killed in an Israeli operation earlier this year and became a hero to many Palestinians, but made a surprise appearance at the funeral of another terrorist, hoisted on the shoulders of a cheering crowd.
The army said Abu Shujaa was killed in a gunfight with Israeli forces early Thursday along with five other terrorists hiding in the mosque. It said Shujaa had been involved in a number of attacks against Israelis, including a deadly shooting in June, and was planning more.
The army said another terrorist was arrested in the operation in Tulkarem and that a member of the Israeli paramilitary Border Police was slightly injured.
Israel launched a major operation in the West Bank late Wednesday night and into the night. Hamas said 10 of its fighters were killed in various locations, while the Palestinian Health Ministry reported an 11th casualty but did not say whether the person was a fighter or a civilian.
Violence has intensified in the West Bank since war broke out on Oct. 7 with a Hamas attack from the Gaza Strip.
Noor Shams is one of a number of refugee camps established across the Middle East dating back to the 1948 war that led to the creation of the state of Israel, when some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from what is now Israel. Many of the camps have become terrorist strongholds.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war, and the Palestinians want all three territories for a future state.
Three million Palestinians in the West Bank live under seemingly endless Israeli military rule, with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority controlling towns and cities. More than 500,000 Jewish settlers with Israeli citizenship live in more than 100 settlements in territory that most of the international community considers illegal.
