The Israeli army said it had “eliminated” two Palestinians who were preparing to carry out explosive attacks near settlements in the West Bank on the fourth day of military operations in the occupied Palestinian territory on Friday night.
“A terrorist attempted to carry out a car bomb attack” near the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, then a second was chased after “infiltrating Karmei Zur”, another settlement further south, the army said.
“In the chase, there was a collision between the cars of the security chief and the terrorist, leading to the elimination of the terrorist. In the confrontation, an explosive device exploded in the terrorist’s car,” the army added, stressing that the two attackers had been “eliminated.”
For its part, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said it had been informed by the Israeli authorities, who are holding the two bodies, of the deaths of two Palestinians.
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which the Israeli army has vowed to destroy in the Gaza Strip after its deadly attack on October 7 in southern Israel, hailed a “coordinated attack” carried out “at a sensitive time, when the occupier [israélien] leads an escalation in the West Bank.
The West Bank is a territory separate from the Gaza Strip where the Israeli army has been at war with Hamas since the October 7 attack.
At least 20 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by the Israeli army since Wednesday, mostly fighters, during operations launched simultaneously in three towns in the north of the occupied territory.
Since Friday, Israeli soldiers have only been patrolling the city of Jenin and its refugee camps, a symbolic bastion of Palestinian armed groups fighting against Israel, after withdrawing from Toubas and Tulkarem and their refugee camps, damaging the streets and carrying out strikes, particularly air strikes, on vehicles or houses where Palestinians were located.
In Jenin, an AFP photographer reported, the sound of fighting echoes through deserted streets where only Israeli tanks circulate. An Israeli military drone flew over the city Saturday morning.
Of the 20 Palestinians killed, Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad said at least 13 were members of their armed wings.