IDF soldier killed in Jenin gunbattle amid West Bank crackdown; 2 gunmen eliminated

Staff Sgt. Liam Hazi fatally hurt, five other troops wounded in exchange of fire with gunmen in building; police kill wanted Palestinian in Nablus

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

Staff Sgt. Liam Hazi, killed in the Jenin camp in the West Bank, on January 30, 2025. (Courtesy)
Staff Sgt. Liam Hazi, killed in the Jenin camp in the West Bank, on January 30, 2025. (Courtesy)

An Israeli soldier was killed and five were wounded during an exchange of fire with Palestinian gunmen in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank on Thursday, the military announced.

Staff Sgt. Liam Hazi, 20, of the Kfir Brigade’s Haruv reconnaissance unit, from Rosh Haayin, was killed amid a major Israeli anti-terror operation in the northern West Bank launched last week.

Among the five wounded troops, one was listed in serious condition, three were moderately hurt and one was in good condition, the army added.

According to an initial IDF probe, the Haruv troops exchanged fire with two gunmen after entering a building in the Jenin camp.

During the extraction of the wounded troops, an Israeli Air Force attack helicopter launched an airstrike in the area.

The two gunmen managed to flee the scene to another building.

IDF troops operate in the West Bank city of Jenin, in a handout photo published on January 27, 2025

Hours later the IDF said Haruv troops and other forces surrounded the building to which the gunmen fled, and following another exchange of fire, killed them.

Weapons belonging to two Palestinian gunmen who killed an Israeli soldier, uncovered by IDF troops in an overnight raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, in a photo cleared for publication on January 31, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Separately on Thursday, police said members of its Yamam anti-terror unit killed a wanted Palestinian in the West Bank city of Nablus.

The IDF, Israel Police and Shin Bet in a joint statement said that Qasim Aklik, 42, was involved in “planning and advancing terror attacks against Israeli targets.”

Aklik, who was armed with a handgun, attempted to flee when the Yamam officers tried to arrest him, police said. The officers then opened fire, killing him.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad said Aklik was a senior commander in the terror group’s Nablus Battalion.

The Palestinian Authority health ministry said it was informed of Aklik’s death, meaning his body was being held by Israeli authorities.

A night earlier, 10 terror operatives, including five Hamas members, were killed in a drone strike in the West Bank town of Tamun, close to Tubas.

The ongoing IDF offensive, dubbed Operation Iron Wall, has primarily focused on the city and refugee camp of Jenin but has also expanded to Tulkarem and the Tubas area.

At least 29 Palestinian terror operatives have been killed so far in the offensive, the IDF has said.

An IDF soldier gestures during a raid in Jenin in the West Bank on January 27, 2025. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)

The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. The Palestinian Authority says over 800 Palestinians have been killed. Most appear to have been gunmen killed in battle during Israeli arrest raids, but the dead also include people killed during violent protests, as well as civilian bystanders.

During the same period, 46 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.

There has also been an uptick in settler violence against Palestinians and Palestinian attacks on Israelis since the start of the war.

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