IDF says ‘most wanted West Bank terror operative’ killed in Nablus operation
Army says senior PIJ operative Nour Bitawi eliminated in drone strike, was planning imminent attacks
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
A senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative who Israeli authorities say was planning imminent terror attacks was killed by troops Friday in the West Bank city of Nablus.
Members of the police’s elite Yamam unit, Shin Bet agents and IDF troops encircled a home in Nablus where Nour Bitawi was holed up, killing him along with another terror operative, the military said.
Bitawi had “advanced significant terror activity, and was involved in guiding, financing and carrying out terror attacks against Israeli citizens and security forces,” the IDF, Shin Bet and police said in a joint statement, adding that he also was in contact with Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip and abroad.
“Bitawi was responsible for the flow of terror funds to Jenin and the other villages in the area, and in this framework, acted to recruit and arm terrorists to carry out attacks against IDF troops. At the same time, he worked to build explosive devices and plant them in the Jenin area,” the statement said.
The IDF said Bitawi had been wanted for many months and was identified fleeing the Jenin area to Nablus, where he was ultimately located and killed.
The Yamam officers carried out a tactic known as “pressure cooker,” which involves escalating the volume of fire against a building to flush suspects out. The officers used an explosive-laden drone to eliminate him inside the building, alongside another operative, according to officials.
A military official described Bitawi as “the number one most wanted” terror operative in the West Bank.
Since late January, the IDF has been carrying out a major offensive in the northern West Bank, dubbed Operation Iron Wall, focusing mainly on the areas of Jenin and Tulkarem.
The offensive followed a spike in West Bank violence since October 7, 2023. Since the Hamas onslaught, troops have arrested some 6,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,350 affiliated with Hamas.
According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 950 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, 51 people, including 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 with terror operatives in the West Bank.
On Wednesday, three Israeli soldiers were wounded in attacks carried out by Palestinians in the northern and southern West Bank.
In the first incident, a Palestinian gunman opened fire on troops in a vehicle while they were operating near the Reihan checkpoint in the northern West Bank. The IDF launched a manhunt for the suspected assailant, and overnight, said he was detained in the nearby village of Barta’a by officers of the police’s elite Gideonim unit.
Shortly after the shooting, a Palestinian rammed his car into a military post at a junction near the southern West Bank city of Hebron. The assailant got out of his car and stabbed one of the soldiers before being shot, the military said. An officer was moderately wounded. He was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. The assailant was taken to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba in critical condition, according to first responders.
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