An Israeli drone strike in the Samaria city of Tulkarem on Tuesday morning killed five terrorists, including two senior Hamas and Fatah operatives, according to Israeli and Palestinian media reports.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the strike on Tuesday morning, saying that several terrorists from different groups involved in planning and carrying out attacks against Israeli solders and the State of Israel were hit.
Among the dead are Ashraf Nafeh, the commander of the local arm of Hamas’s Qassam Brigades, and Muhammad Abu Abdo, commander of Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.
According to the IDF, Nafeh was responsible for manufacturing and embedding explosives intended to attack IDF soldiers, as well as recruiting new Hamas operatives. Additionally, he participated in many attacks against IDF soldiers in Judea and Samaria and was in contact with external Hamas terrorists who advanced attacks in Judea and Samaria.
Muhammad Abu Abdo, whom the IDF identified as Muhammad Awad, was actively involved in shooting attacks against IDF soldiers, raised funds to support the local battalion’s terrorist activity and procured weaponry for the battalion.
The IDF said that the overnight raid in Tulkarem was part of a series of 50 counterterrorism operations in the area since the start of the war on Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing 1,200 people.
Soldiers also struck several armed terrorists in gunfire battles and dismantled many explosives planted underneath the roads.
Earlier this month, an IDF soldier was killed and another seriously wounded by Palestinian terrorists in the Nur Shams camp, east of Tulkarem.
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.
Since the beginning of the war with Hamas on Oct. 7, the IDF has carried out intensive ground operations in Samaria, arresting hundreds of suspects and dismantling terror infrastructure, including explosives buried under roads, intended to kill Israeli forces.
In June, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich urged immediate government action after Hamas terrorists fired across the security fence toward central Israel from Samaria two times within the span of a week.
“Terrorism must be eradicated everywhere, even if it means Tulkarem will look like Gaza looks today,” said Smotrich, who oversees civilian issues in Judea and Samaria in the Defense Ministry.
