JNS
The counter-terror operation in Samaria began hours after Israeli forces eliminated key Hamas terrorist Hassam Malach in Tulkarem.
Israel on Thursday conducted an airstrike on a terrorist cell in the Nur Shams camp, east of Tulkarem in western Samaria.
Israeli forces called in the strike after coming under fire during a counter-terror operation in Nur Shams, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The operation began overnight, just hours after the IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) eliminated key Hamas terrorist Hassam Malach in Tulkarem. Malach was involved in planning "immediate" attacks, according to the IDF.
Earlier this month in Nur Shams, IDF forces killed Muhammad Abdullah, who became the local head of Gaza-based Palestinian Islamic Jihad after his predecessor, Muhamad Jabber, was eliminated on Aug. 29.
Abdullah was responsible for planning and directing “many attacks,” including targeting Israeli troops with explosives.
Days earlier, an Israeli Air Force fighter jet conducted a rare strike in Tulkarem, targeting top Hamas terrorist Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi. Ayyth Radwan, the head of Islamic Jihad’s Tulkarem branch, was also reportedly killed.
Oufi was planning a terrorist attack “in the immediate time frame,” according to the IDF, and directed the thwarted car bombing last month near Ateret in the Binyamin region of Samaria.
The military said Oufi was involved in smuggling weapons to terrorists who perpetrated several recent attacks against Israelis, including some that resulted in injuries to civilians.
