An Israeli soldier during a raid at the Noor Shams camp for Palestinian refugees near the city of Tulkarm in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on August 28, 2024. | Photo credit: AFP
The Israeli army said it had killed five more militants, including a well-known local commander, in a large-scale operation in the occupied West Bank early Thursday (August 29, 2024).
There was no immediate Palestinian confirmation of the death of Mohammed Jaber, also known as Abu Shujaa, a commander of the Islamic Jihad militant group in the Nur Shams refugee camp on the outskirts of the city of Tukaram.
He became a hero to many Palestinians earlier this year when it was reported he had been killed in an Israeli operation, but he made a sudden appearance at the funeral of other militants, where cheering crowds carried him on their shoulders.
The army said he was killed along with four other militants in a gunfight with Israeli forces on Thursday morning when the five were hiding in a mosque. The army said Abu Shuja was linked to several attacks on Israelis, including a deadly shooting in June, and was planning more attacks.
Another militant was arrested and a member of Israel’s paramilitary Border Police was slightly injured during the operation in Tulkaram, the army said.
Israel carried out a large-scale operation in the West Bank overnight on Wednesday (August 28, 2024). Hamas said 10 of its fighters were killed in various locations, and the Palestinian Health Ministry reported an 11th casualty, without specifying whether he was a fighter or a civilian.
Violence has escalated in the West Bank since Hamas launched an attack from Gaza on October 7, sparking a war there.
Nur Shams is one of many refugee camps across the Middle East that date back to the wars that began with Israel’s creation in 1948, in which some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from present-day Israel. Many of these camps are strongholds of militants.
Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and the Palestinians want all three areas for their future state.
Three million Palestinians in the West Bank live under open Israeli military rule, with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority administering towns and cities. More than 500,000 Jewish settlers, who have Israeli citizenship, live in more than 100 settlements across the territory, which most of the international community considers illegal.