Israeli air strike kills three in West Bank: Palestinian ministry

JENIN (AFP): An Israeli strike Wednesday killed three Palestinians in a car in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, with the army reporting an Islamic Jihad militant was “eliminated”.

AFP journalists saw a crowd gathered around the charred remains of a vehicle and blood on the pavement in the northern West Bank city of Jenin after the army said “an aircraft struck two senior Islamic Jihad operatives.”

The military said it had “eliminated” Ahmed Barakat, who it accused of a May 2023 attack that killed an Israeli settler.

Three other militants were also “struck” in the attack, according to a military statement.

According to the Palestinian ministry, the strike killed three people including Barakat and wounded one.

Witness Amir al-Sabah, 30, said: “Suddenly there was an explosion near my car. Because of the force of the blast, my car caught fire, so I had to get out.”

Jenin and its adjacent refugee camp are a stronghold of armed Palestinian groups opposing Israel, which has occupied the West Bank since 1967.

Israeli troops regularly carry out incursions into Palestinian communities but until several months ago had rarely struck the West Bank from the air.

Violence in the territory has intensified since war broke out between Israel and Hamas, sparked by the Gaza militants’ October attack on southern Israel.

According to the Ramallah-based health ministry, Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 435 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Gaza war began.

The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

Militants also seized about 250 hostages, of whom Israel believes 130 remain in Gaza, including 33 who are presumed dead.

Israel’s military has waged a relentless offensive against Hamas that has killed at least 31,923 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.