An IAF fighter jet targeted a building in Jenin in the northern West Bank late Friday night as part of a counter-terrorism operation, the IDF reported.
The IDF and the Palestinian health ministry said that at least one person was killed and eight were wounded in the strike.
A Ynet report stated that the building was harboring terrorists, with other Hebrew media then reporting that the strike hit a five-man squad that was planning to carry out a major terrorist attack in the immediate time frame. Residents of the refugee camp said a house was targeted.
Video documentation of the IAF strike in Jenin that eliminated a PIJ terrorist (credit: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)
The one person killed in the strike was Aslam Hamaisa, one of the commanders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad‘s Jenin Brigade, Hebrew media reported. He was located by the Shin Bet hiding in an apartment in the area, Walla reported. The precise attack that led to his assassination was made possible due to accurate intelligence from the Shin Bet in real time, the report noted.
What was the PIJ terrorist responsible for?
Hamaisa was responsible along with another terrorist for a deadly attack that happened in the Hermesh settlement in the West Bank in May of last year, in which Meir Tamari was murdered, Ynet reported. He was also responsible for an additional attack a month later at a junction where Israelis were injured.
The Shin Bet had been monitoring the Jenin Battalion’s infrastructure for some time, Walla reported.
Shortly after the strike, the IDF and Shin Bet said they targeted an operations center in the Palestinian city, and that the fighter jet that launched the strike that killed Hamaisa was done so under the the security service’s guidance. They also said that a number of key terrorists hid in the building, among them were those involved in carrying out shooting attacks in the Jenin sector.
The IDF stated that Hamaisa’s assassination was “to remove an immediate threat.”
The Palestinian health ministry said the eight wounded people were in stable condition and receiving treatment at hospitals. Reuters could not immediately confirm their identities.
Jenin has been used for many years as a hub from which many terrorists come out in order to harm Israeli civilians. In one of the targeted countermeasures carried out in the city about two months ago, four terrorists were killed by a UAV.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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