Head of Hamas in Jenin, 2 other operatives killed in IDF drone strike, shootout
Wissam Hazem shot dead by undercover forces amid ongoing major operation in northern West Bank; in all, military says 20 gunmen killed
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The commander of Hamas’s military wing in the West Bank city of Jenin was killed along with two other operatives in clashes and drone strikes on Friday morning, the Israel Defense Forces, Shin Bet security agency, and police said.
According to the military, amid an ongoing operation in the northern West Bank, troops spotted a cell of gunmen in a car in the Jenin area town of Zababdeh.
Inside the car was Wissam Hazem, the head of Hamas’s terror network in Jenin.
Undercover Border Police officers opened fire at the car, killing Hazem, while the other two gunmen fled, the joint statement said. A short while later, a drone struck and killed the pair.
The military released drone footage showing the moment the Border Police officers ambushed Hazem and the drone strikes carried out a short while later.
Police released a separate clip from body cameras on the officers, showing them blocking the car that Hazem was in and exchanging fire with him.
According to Israel, Hazem was involved in numerous shooting and bombing attacks and was advancing additional attacks.
The other two gunmen, killed by the drone, were named by the IDF as Maysara Masharqa and Arafat Amer.
The military said they were Hamas members working under Hazem and were also involved in shooting attacks, including against Israeli communities near the West Bank security barrier.
Inside the car and on the bodies of the terror operatives, the IDF says it recovered assault rifles, handguns and other equipment.
No troops were hurt in the incident.
The drone strikes came amid an ongoing large-scale operation in the northern West Bank launched early Wednesday. The military has been operating mostly in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, but also in Jenin and the Far’a camp near Tubas.
The IDF said on Friday afternoon that it had killed 20 gunmen and detained another 17 since the start of the operation. Palestinian media also reported that 20 had been killed.
Early Thursday, Israeli forces killed five Palestinian gunmen who were hiding in a mosque in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, including the commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s local wing in the Nur Shams camp, the military said.
Another founding member of Islamic Jihad’s local wing in Tulkarem was detained.
The large operation, involving the Kfir Brigade, the Duvdevan Commando Unit, combat engineers and Border Police, was expected to last at least several days, military sources said Wednesday.
The ongoing operation was focused on dismantling a Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror network in the Tulkarem area, as well as in Jenin and the Far’a camp near Tubas.
While the army has said it has seen a relative decline in terror coming from the northern West Bank in recent months, it has also seen continued attempts by terror operatives to launch attacks.
After a series of smaller operations in the northern West Bank, the IDF decided to launch a more extensive operation, targeting three areas at once — Jenin, Tulkarem and Far’a — where terror operatives were seen as operating together, military sources said.
The large-scale operation was also launched in part following an intended suicide bombing in Tel Aviv earlier this month.
The IDF has carried out several drone strikes amid the operation. In the past 10 months, the IDF has carried out more than 60 airstrikes in the West Bank, using drones, attack helicopters and fighter jets.
A Border Police officer was lightly hurt and an IDF soldier was moderately wounded amid the operations on Wednesday and Thursday.
Tensions in Israel and the West Bank have soared since October 7, when terrorists burst through the Gaza border into Israel in a Hamas-led attack, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages.
Since October 7, troops have arrested some 4,850 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,960 affiliated with Hamas.
According to the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry, more than 670 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. 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, 27 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another five members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.
