IAF airstrike kills member of Jenin terror network

An Israeli airstrike in the Samaria city of Jenin over the weekend killed one of the terrorists responsible for the 2023 murder of Israeli civilian Meir Tamari, the Israel Defense Forces announced.

The airstrike on Friday night killed Islam Khamayseh, who was wanted over his involvement in a series of terrorist attacks, including the May 2023 drive-by shooting near Hermesh in which Tamari was killed.

Khamayseh was also believed to be responsible for another attack one month later that wounded four Israel Defense Forces soldiers and one Israeli civilian.

According to a joint IDF and Israel Security Agency statement, Israeli Air Force jets and helicopter gunships targeted a building used as an “operational war room” by a terror network.

Several terrorists were holed up in the command room when it was hit, the statement noted, adding that the Jenin network was planning additional attacks in the near future.

The military described the site targeted on Friday night as “a dangerous terrorist infrastructure” and said the airstrike “was carried out to remove an imminent threat posed by the terrorists who were involved in advancing terror attacks in the area of Jenin and Israeli territory.”

Judea and Samaria saw a dramatic rise in Palestinian terrorist attacks in 2023 compared to the previous year, with shootings reaching their highest level since the Second Intifada of 2000-05, per IDF data.

Two months ago, an IAF airstrike in Jenin killed Ahmed Barakat, another terrorist responsible for the fatal shooting of Tamari near the community of Hermesh in northwestern Samaria on May 30, 2023.