Hamas Bosses Bite Dust

Gaza: Israeli soldiers have killed another Hamas commander and two associates on the third day of its largest assault on the occupied West Bank in many months.

Wassem Hazem, who headed the Hamas cell in the terrorist stronghold city of Jenin, was shot during a pursuit, while two other Hamas members were killed by a drone strike as they attempted to flee, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The IDF found weapons, explosives and large sums of cash in their vehicle.

Hamas has since confirmed the three deaths.

The West Bank operation started Wednesday with a series of co-ordinated raids, in which armoured personnel carriers charged into Jenin, Tulkarm and the Jordan Valley, supported by helicopters and drones, while armoured bulldozers tore up key local roads.

Israel has described its raids on towns and refugee camps across the northern West Bank as “counter-terrorism” operations, intended to prevent further attacks.

“So far, the forces have eliminated 20 terrorists in exchanges of fire and air strikes, and apprehended 17 suspects linked to terrorist activities,” the Israeli military said.

Israeli troops have now pulled back from a number of towns in the area, but fighting is continuing to rage around Jenin.

However, Palestinians living in the area said its fuelling an escalation of the war in Gaza, where a number of aid agencies have been hit by drone strikes this week.

The UN’s World Food Program suspended aid operations on Wednesday after one of its vehicles was hit by an Israeli strike, while US-based aid group Anera said another Israeli strike killed four Palestinians accompanying its convoy to the Gaza Strip on Thursday.

Israeli artillery pounded western areas of Gaza City on Friday morning, local time, while an Israeli strike killed another three people near the southern city of Khan Yunis.

The IDF also shelled the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Friday, killing two people.

The World Health Organisation said Israel had agreed to at least three days of “humanitarian pauses” in parts of Gaza, starting today, to facilitate a vaccination drive. It comes after the territory recorded its first case of polio in a quarter of a century.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the measures were “not a ceasefire”.

US Vice President Kamala Harris said this week she would not change Washington’s policy of supplying weapons to Israel, but she stressed it was time to “end this war”.

Britain said it was “deeply” concerned by the raids, urging Israel to “exercise restraint”, while France said the Israeli operations “worsen a climate of unprecedented instability and violence”.

The United Nations said on Wednesday that at least 637 Palestinians had been killed in the territory by Israeli troops or settlers since the Gaza war began.

Nineteen Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks over the same period.

Meanwhile the IDF said yesterday it had wrapped up a month-long operation in southern and central Gaza that it said killed more than 250 Palestinian fighters.