Israeli Drone Strike Kills Two in West Bank

RAMALLAH:
An Israeli drone strike killed two Palestinian men and wounded three others after targeting a vehicle in the Nour Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian authorities and witnesses said.

The Ramallah-based Health Ministry said in a statement that two fatalities and three injuries were brought to Tulkarm Governmental Hospital following the strike. Witnesses and local sources told Xinhua the attack ignited a fire at the scene, prompting ambulances and civil defence crews to respond.

The Palestinian Authority’s Tulkarm governor, Abdullah Kamil, identified the dead as Ihab Abu Atwi and Ramez Al-Damiri, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Security Agency (ISA) confirmed in a statement that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) killed two in Tulkarm.

“During a joint IDF and ISA counterterrorism activity, an IAF aircraft struck and eliminated Ihab Abu Atiwi, a terrorist who served as the head of Hamas in Tulkarm, and an additional terrorist,” the statement read.

It added that Abu Atiwi was involved in numerous shooting attacks, including an attack on an Israeli vehicle at the Ramin junction in the West Bank in July last year, in which three Israelis were injured.

The strike occurred amid an ongoing seven-day Israeli military offensive in Jenin, another northern West Bank city, where Palestinian security sources told Xinhua that airstrikes and home demolitions have displaced thousands of families.

Violence in the West Bank has surged since October 2023, with Palestinian health officials reporting over 800 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the past year.