Israel kills Islamic Jihad leader in West Bank bombing

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) assured this Friday that They eliminated the new commander of the Tulkarem brigade of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Mohamed Abdullah, during a bombing raid in the occupied West Bank.

During a “joint counterterrorism operation” on Thursday, an Israeli aircraft “conducted an attack in the Tulkarem area and eliminated Mohamed Abdullah”as well as “another terrorist”, who were found with M-16 rifles and vests, according to a joint statement from the IDF and ISA.

According to the text, Abdullah was the successor of Mohamed Jaber ‘Abu Shujaa’commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Tulkarem, died during a firefight with Israeli forces on August 29.

“In recent months, Abdullah was responsible for organizing terrorist activities in the area (…) He also participated in placing explosives against IDF soldiers operating in the Tulkarem area,” the statement said.

The Palestinian News Agency He died confirmed citing security sources the death of Abdullah and another young man named Awad Omar on Thursday after a bombing with Israeli drones against a vehicle east of Tulkarem, specifically between the Thannaba neighborhood and the Nur Shams refugee camp.

According to this media, Israeli forces entered the area immediately after the bombing and They recovered the bodies of Abdullah and Omar before leaving the sceneto which several ambulances also attended.

The Islamic Jihad is an ally of Hamasand both groups are fighting Israeli forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The occupied West Bank is experiencing its greatest spiral of violence since the Second Intifada (2000-05), and so far in 2024 more than 400 Palestinians have been killed there by Israeli fire, most of them militiamen from refugee camps, but also civilians, including at least 65 minors.

There are also about 40 Palestinians killed after allegedly carrying out attacks against Israelis, mostly against uniformed personnel at military checkpoints or near settlements. The year 2023 was the deadliest in two decades, with more than 520 deaths.

The Israeli Army intensified its already frequent incursions into the occupied West Bank after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, and since then some 730 Palestinians have died, more than 150 minors, in violent incidents with Israel.