Terrorists killed in Tulkarem yesterday behind killing of Israeli soldiers, civilian
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Among the nine Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives killed in drone strikes in the Tulkarem area of the West Bank yesterday were terrorists behind the killing of an off-duty soldier, a Border Police officer, and an Israeli civilian, the military says.
According to the IDF, Haitham Balidi, a commander in a local wing of Hamas in Tulkarem, was part of a cell that carried out a deadly shooting attack near the West Bank town of Bayt Lid on November 2, killing off-duty IDF reservist Sgt. First Class (res.) Elhanan Klein.
Balidi was also part of the cell that killed Chief Inspector Yitav Lev Halevi, a commander in the police’s elite Yamam counter-terrorism unit, amid a raid in the West Bank town of Dayr al-Ghusun, near Tulkarem, on May 4.
Balidi was behind numerous more attacks, according to the military.
Also among the nine slain gunmen were Jamal Abu Haniyeh and Ali Khalil, members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad who according to the IDF shot dead Israeli civilian Amnon Muchtar in a terror attack in Qalqilya on June 21.
Another gunman killed was Abdul Jabbar al-Sabbagh, who the IDF says was involved in shooting attacks against Israeli towns bordering the green line and settlements, including Bat Hefer, Einav, and Avnei Hefetz.
