Israeli airstrikes kill nine in West Bank, including a Hamas commander

By Ali Sawafta and Nidal al-Mughrabi

RAMALLAH/CAIRO (Reuters) -An Israeli airstrike in the occupied West Bank killed a Hamas commander and four Islamic Jihad fighters on Saturday, the militant groups’ media reported, and the Israeli military said it had killed four more gunmen in a separate strike.

The Israeli military said the first airstrike hit a vehicle in a town near the city of Tulkarm, targeting a militant cell it said was on its way to carry out an attack. A Hamas media outlet said a vehicle carrying fighters had been struck and that one of those killed was a commander of its Tulkarm brigades.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad groups claimed the other four men as its fighters.

Hours later, a second strike targeted another group of armed militants who had fired on troops, Israel’s military said, during what it described as a counter-terrorism operation in Tulkarm.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said five men had been killed in the first strike and WAFA said four people died in the second. It said their identities were not immediately clear.

Violence in the West Bank was on the rise before the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and has risen since, with frequent Israeli raids in the territory, which is among those that the Palestinians seek for a state.

There has also been an increase in anti-Israeli street attacks by Palestinians.

GAZA STRIKES

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli airstrikes killed six people in a house in the southern area of Rafah on Saturday and two others in Gaza City, further north, Gaza health officials said.

At least 31 Palestinians were killed across the enclave on Saturday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.

The Israeli military said its forces had struck militants and destroyed Hamas infrastructure in Rafah and elsewhere in the enclave.

At least 39,550 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. The offensive was triggered by a Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 abducted, according to Israeli tallies.

An Israeli delegation was due in Cairo over the weekend to discuss a possible hostage release and Gaza ceasefire deal.

Chances of a breakthrough appear low as regional tension has soared following the assassination of Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday, a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, a top military commander from Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Haniyeh’s death was one in a series of killings of senior Hamas figures as the Gaza war nears its 11th month and concern grows that the conflict is spreading across the Middle East.

Hamas and Iran have both accused Israel of carrying out the assassination and have pledged to retaliate. Israel has neither claimed nor denied responsibility for the death.

Hezbollah, like Hamas, is backed by Iran and has also vowed revenge.