In a massive operation in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, August 29, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that it had killed five more militants, bringing the total number of casualties from the first day of “counter-terrorism” operations to 14.
Having shot and killed nine militants in simultaneous raids throughout multiple West Bank communities the day before, the military claimed that “following exchanges of fire, the forces eliminated five terrorists who had hidden inside a mosque in Tulkarem.”
According to the IDF, another victim of the operation was a well-known local leader called Mohammed Jaber, better known by his nickname Abu Shujja. Jaber was a member of the terrorist Islamic Jihad group.
Remarkably, Shujja was connected to many shootings in June that killed Israelis. Before he was purportedly neutralized by Israeli soldiers, he was reportedly preparing future strikes. The Palestinian side did not immediately corroborate this.
Shujja was reportedly slain earlier this year, but he unexpectedly showed up at a militant’s funeral and received a hero’s welcome from the mourners, who lifted him up on their shoulders.
Violence in the West Bank, a Palestinian enclave controlled by Israel since 1967 and geographically divided from Gaza by Israeli land, has increased dramatically since the conflict began in October of last year. UN figures indicate that since the commencement of the conflict against Hamas, Israeli forces and settlers have killed up to 637 Palestinians in the West Bank.
The event takes place one day after the US placed fresh penalties on West Bank settlers for their violent acts against Palestinians.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement that “extremist settler violence in the West Bank causes intense human suffering, harms Israel’s security, and undermines the prospect for peace and stability in the region.”
Hashomer Yosh, an Israeli organisation that has backed the unauthorized settlement outpost of Meitarim Farm in the south Hebron Hills, was one of the most recent targets of sanctions.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, criticized the US action and stated that the matter was brought up in a conversation with the White House.
