(JNS) Israeli security forces killed three Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists, including a commander, during overnight operations in the West Bank, according to Israeli media reports.
The three terrorists were killed in Tubas and the nearby al-Fari’ah camp, located east of Nablus, according to the reports, which cited the Palestinian Authority’s official Wafa news agency.
One of the terrorists, Ahmed Daraghmeh, 26, was reportedly a commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad-affiliated Tubas Battalion terrorist group.
The two others killed were identified as Osama Jabr Al-Zalt, 26, and Muhammad Samih Bayadsa, 32. Three others were wounded in the armed clashes.
During the night, the IDF also operated in Nablus and Ramallah, as well as the towns of Illar and Jaba’, where, according to the Hebrew-language Hidabrut news site, soldiers arrested 20 wanted suspects, including senior terrorists.
The West Bank saw a dramatic rise in terrorist attacks in 2023 compared to the previous year, with shootings reaching their highest level since the Second Intifada of 2000-05, Israel Defense Forces data shows.
Over the year, there were 608 attacks versus 170 in 2022, representing a 350% increase.
The 300 shooting attacks are the most since the bloody Palestinian terror wave of the early 2000s.
More than 50 of the 2023 shooting attacks emanated from the terrorist hotspot of Jenin. The IDF undertook a major operation to root out terrorists and terror infrastructure there over the summer. The July 3-5 incursion was dubbed “Operation Home and Garden.” It was preceded the month before by the first Israeli drone strike in the West Bank since 2006, which killed a three-man terror cell.
The violence has continued to escalate in the months since October 7. A total of 41 Israeli airstrikes have been carried out in the West Bank since the start of the war, as well as more than 200 counterterror operations in Palestinian camps. Over 3,150 wanted suspects in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley have been arrested, of whom more than 1,350 are Hamas operatives.
