In rare West Bank airstrike, IDF says it killed 3 Palestinian terror operatives

Three Palestinian terror operatives, including a senior commander, were killed in an Israeli drone strike in the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday afternoon, the military announced, marking a rare airstrike in the territory.

The strike targeted Qais Bitawi, who, according to the Shin Bet security agency, was the head of Hamas’s activities in the Jenin refugee camp, widely seen as a hotbed of terrorist activity.

IDF troops and members of the police’s elite Yamam unit launched an operation to kill Bitawi, following information provided by the Shin Bet of his whereabouts.

After Bitawi and two of his accomplices were spotted exiting a car next to a structure in Jenin, the Israeli Air Force carried out a drone strike against them, killing the trio, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The decision to carry out the airstrike came after the three terror operatives were identified as armed, a military official said.

A short while later, troops of the Nahal Brigade’s 50th Battalion located an M16 assault rifle inside the car, the military said.

Bitawi had acted to advance “significant terror activities and was involved in directing, financing and carrying out attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces,” the military and Shin Bet said in a joint statement, adding that he also “maintained ties with Hamas in Gaza and Hamas abroad.”

According to the military official, Bitawi took part in directing a July 2024 bombing attack along the West Bank security barrier, in which two Defense Ministry employees were wounded.

The operation to kill Bitawi came following an “extensive intelligence effort” led by the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence Directorate, during which Israeli forces arrested and questioned dozens of accomplices who had been in contact with the terror commander, the official said.

In a statement, Hamas denounced the strike and said it “will be met only with further anger and confrontation.”

Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, confirmed that Bitawi was one of its commanders, adding he was killed “following a cowardly assassination operation… alongside his fellow martyrs.”

However, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in a statement, also claimed that Bitawi and the two others killed were its fighters.

AFP photos also showed Israeli soldiers removing a body from a house under construction on the outskirts of Jenin after the strike.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz both congratulated the military on Friday’s operation.

“These are the fruits of the aggressive and proactive policy we are leading in the West Bank: we do not wait for terror — we pursue it, conquer its strongholds and thwart its people,” Katz posted on X.

Netanyahu praised the forces on X, saying, “Taking the initiative and going on the offensive. I commend our forces for successfully thwarting the terrorist in Jenin.”

In early 2025, Israel launched a major counterterrorism operation in the Jenin camp and other northern West Bank refugee camps, aimed at rooting out terror groups operating in the area. The operation also displaced tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians.

The official said that since Bitawi was pushed out of the Jenin camp during large-scale Operation Iron Wall, he “continued to act to advance terror plots, including commanding a terror cell from the village of Qabatiya that sought to carry out attacks.”

“Bitawi was a key wanted individual by the security forces, and attempts were made to arrest him several times,” the official said.

The IDF added that he was also a relative of Nour Bitawi, a previous commander of a terror network in Jenin, who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2025.

Between October 7, 2023, and early 2025, the IDF carried out over 100 airstrikes in the West Bank, mostly with drones and helicopters. Five were carried out by fighter jets. Since then, Israeli airstrikes in the West Bank have been a rare occurrence.

Meanwhile, the government told the High Court of Justice on Thursday that it opposes allowing the return of tens of thousands of residents from three West Bank refugee camps, including Jenin, that were cleared entirely by the IDF in counter-terror operations.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel petitioned the High Court against the evictions from the Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur al-Shams refugee camps, arguing that they illegally displaced some 33,000 Palestinians who are now reliant on aid from humanitarian organizations.

Responding to the State Attorney’s Office, the government credited the counter-terror operations that began in January 2025 for significantly improving the security situation for settlers in the West Bank.

Moreover, the government explained in its response that the IDF wants to maintain its presence in the three refugee camps because it believes armed Palestinian groups will resume operating there if the army withdraws.

The strike came after IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Thursday morning that he had ordered a major bolstering of troops in the West Bank in light of recent tensions in the territory.

Violence in the West Bank has escalated sharply in recent months, mostly involving settler attacks on Palestinians, though there have also been several attacks by Palestinian assailants on Israelis. Critics accuse the IDF and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of condoning or even encouraging the violence by Israelis against Palestinians.

AFP and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.