From the Liveblog of
Thursday, August 29, 2024
IDF says at least 12 Palestinian gunmen killed in wide West Bank operation
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The IDF releases footage of troops neutralizing explosive devices amid an ongoing operation in the northern West Bank, during which the military says forces have so far killed at least 12 Palestinian gunmen.
The ongoing operation is 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 says 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.
The large-scale operation was also launched in part following an intended suicide bombing in Tel Aviv earlier this month. The attack was largely unsuccessful after the Hamas terrorist was killed when the bomb in his backpack exploded prematurely as he walked down a sidewalk, though one person nearby was wounded.
In the first 24 hours of the operation, the IDF says soldiers killed 12 gunmen and detained more than 10 others. Palestinian media put the toll at 17.
Five of them, including the leader of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad wing in Tulkarem’s Nur Shams camp, were killed in an exchange of fire with troops at a mosque in the West Bank city overnight. Another top member of Islamic Jihad was detained.
The IDF has carried out several drone strikes amid the operation.
Dozens of explosive devices were neutralized and weapons were also seized, the army says, releasing footage showing soldiers shooting at bombs planted along roads in the West Bank.
The IDF has also been ripping up roads in the West Bank where it says it has intelligence of explosive devices that were planted there. So far, dozens of bombs hidden underneath roads have been neutralized, the military says.
One soldier was moderately wounded and a member of the police’s Yamam counterterrorism unit was lightly hurt amid the operations, the IDF adds.
