FIVE PALESTINIANS, INCLUDING HAMAS MILITANTS, KILLED IN IDF RAID ON WEST BANK COMPOUND

Five Palestinians, Including Hamas Militants, Killed in IDF Raid on West Bank Compound

The operation near the city of Tulkarm took more than 13 hours and involved gunfire and a drone attack. Five people were killed; one who turned himself in was arrested and one Israeli police officer was severely wounded

May 04th, 19PM May 05th, 00AM

Israeli forces killed five Palestinians, including four fighters from the militant group Hamas, in an overnight raid near the city of Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian and Israeli officials said on Saturday.

Hamas confirmed that four of the men killed during the raid in Deir al-Ghusun village were from its al-Qassam armed wing. The Palestinian health ministry said their bodies had been taken by the Israeli military.

There was no information about the fifth man, whose body was too disfigured for immediate identification, the Palestinian health ministry in the West Bank said.

The Israeli army reports that a police officer was severely wounded during the operation. The officer is a member of the Police Special Anti-Terror Unit (Yamam) and was taken to a nearby hospital.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said one of the Palestinians had died on the way to hospital on Saturday following the raid in Deir al-Ghusun, while a Reuters reporter at the scene saw Israeli forces leave the village with two other bodies.

The Israeli military said it was conducting "counterterrorism activities in the area".

Saturday's operation in Tulkarm was the latest in a series of clashes in the West Bank between Israeli forces and Palestinians, that has been escalating for more than two years, but which has picked up in intensity since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7.

At least 460 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or Jewish settlers in the West Bank or East Jerusalem since October 7, according to Palestinian Health Ministry records. Most have been armed fighters but stone-throwing youths and uninvolved civilians have also been killed.

2024-05-04T16:17:55Z dg43tfdfdgfd