Attacker killed, IDF says, 60 reportedly detained in northern West Bank operation

Israeli soldiers killed an attacker who threw an explosive at them, the IDF said, while a Palestinian NGO said 60 people were detained as Israel conducted a large counterterror operation in the northern West Bank.

Among those detained and then released was the mayor of a Palestinian town, according to a group affiliated with Hamas.

The operation, which began overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, was launched in response to efforts by Palestinian terror groups to establish a presence in the area.

On Wednesday night, the IDF confirmed that a Palestinian who hurled an explosive device at Israeli soldiers during a raid in the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya had been shot dead.

The soldiers of the Paratroopers Brigade’s reconnaissance unit were not hurt by the bomb.

“The troops responded by opening fire and eliminating” the attacker, the military said. After the suspect was killed, the IDF said the soldiers found several more bombs inside his car, which were then destroyed.

The Palestinian Authority’s health ministry named the man as Osama Yasser Mohammed Kumail. Local sources cited by WAFA, the PA’s official news agency, said Kumail was shot in the stomach near a cafe in Qabatiya and taken to a hospital, where he was declared dead.

The operation was being carried out by the equivalent of three IDF brigades, and included forces from the Commando Brigade and Samaria and Menashe regional brigades, alongside Border Police officers.

Israeli Air Force helicopters were also deployed, with the IDF reporting that strikes were carried out before the troops entered the towns, to “isolate the area and cordon it off.” The operation is expected to last several days.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said on Wednesday that its medics were treating an 85-year-old man who was beaten by IDF soldiers in the Palestinian town of Tubas, in the northeast of the West Bank.

He was taken to a hospital, the ambulance service said. The IDF did not respond to a request for comment on the incident as of Wednesday evening.

And a Palestinian NGO said on Wednesday that Israeli security forces arrested or performed field interrogations on 60 people, including minors, in Tubas. It was unclear how long they would be held, and how many had been released.

Among those detained and later released was Samir Basharat, the mayor of Tammun, a town in the area, according to the Hamas-affiliated Prisoner Affairs Office.

Violence in the West Bank has soared since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the Gaza war.

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since the war started, according to the PA health ministry. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops, or terrorists carrying out attacks.

During the same period, 63 civilians and Israeli security personnel have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of the security forces were killed in clashes during raids in Palestinian cities in the West Bank.

The same period has also seen a major surge in attacks by settler extremists on Palestinians and their property across the West Bank. The IDF has recorded more than 752 incidents of nationalistic crime and settler violence since the start of the year. The total for 2024 was 675 incidents.