Israeli strike kills three Palestinians in West Bank’s Jenin

What the report says

Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in a rare air strike in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, on Friday, according to Al Jazeera’s report citing the Israeli military, Palestinian medical officials and local news agencies. The army said it “eliminated” three people, including one it identified as a Hamas operative and two aides, while Palestinian Islamic Jihad said the man named by Israel, Qais Bitawi, was a senior member of its armed wing. The strike targeted a car, the military said, while the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that a house under construction in western Jenin was hit.

The Palestine Red Crescent said Israeli ground troops then raided the site, briefly detained medics and blocked them from taking the wounded or dead to hospital. Al Jazeera also reported that Red Crescent staff were detained after reaching the scene. Photos from AFP showed Israeli soldiers removing a body from the area after the attack.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the operation as a successful prevention of an attack, and Defence Minister Israel Katz congratulated the military, police and Shin Bet. Hamas condemned the strike and urged the international community to stop what it called Israeli crimes and hold Israel responsible. The incident comes amid heightened violence in the West Bank and follows a period in which Israeli air strikes have been far more common in Gaza than in the West Bank, where raids and clashes have continued. Separately, the report noted that Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least five people the same day.