The son of imprisoned Fatah terror leader Zakaria Zubeidi was among the six people killed in an Israeli drone strike in Tubas in northeastern Samaria on Wednesday night, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Israel’s military confirmed that Mohammed Zubeidi was part of an armed terrorist cell targeted in the strike. The IDF said that a total of seven terrorists were eliminated from the air and on the ground on Wednesday night, accusing them of being “involved in terrorist acts and shooting attacks against the security forces.”
The IDF described Zubeidi as “a major terrorist from the Jenin area who took part in a shooting attack in the Seam area (the pre-1967 line delimiting Judea and Samaria) and in many terrorist operations against IDF forces in the Judea and Samaria area.
“During Israel Defense Forces counterterrorism activity in the area of Tubas in the northern Jordan Valley, IAF aircraft conducted three targeted strikes on armed terrorists that posed a threat to Israeli forces,” the IDF said in a statement on early Thursday.
כוחות צה"ל מחטיבת הבקעה והעמקים, חטיבת כפיר ולוחמי יחידת מצדה של שב"ס, בהכוונת שב"כ, החלו הלילה במבצע לסיכול טרור במרחבים פרעה וטובאס, לצד מבצע נוסף בעיר יריחו שבמרחב חטיבת הבקעה והעמקים>> pic.twitter.com/NxRDHZ2QbG
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 5, 2024
The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry named five of the Palestinians it said had been killed in the strike as Ahmed Abu Dawas, 24, Mohammed Abu Juma, 30, Qusay Abd al-Razeq, 26, Mohammed Abu Zagha, 23 and Mohammed Zubeidi, 21.
The Palestinian Red Crescent then reported an additional fatality, an unnamed individual, age 17.
Mohammed Zubeidi was the son of Zakaria Zubeidi, the Jenin chief of Fatah’s armed terror wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, during the Second Intifada. P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas is the chairman of Fatah and the PLO.
Zakaria Zubeidi escaped from Israel’s Gilboa Prison in September 2021 along with six other high-security prisoners. They were captured within two weeks following an intensive manhunt.
The IDF said that it began a counterterror operation in the Far’a and Tubas areas on Wednesday night, alongside another operation in Jericho.
In addition to the armed terror cell that was struck in Tubas, the IDF said that during activities in Far’a, “an aircraft was attacked from the air by armed terrorists who threw explosives and fired at the forces. Israeli forces also killed a terrorist armed with a bomb in an exchange of fire.”
In addition, IDF soldiers uncovered shafts where explosive charges were planted intended to harm Israeli forces.
Israeli forces began a large counterterror operation in the Jenin area last week. The operation, involving hundreds of troops and air support, has also involved the Tulkarem area and the Far’a camp in Tubas.
