West Bank28 August, 20263 min read
Israel Kills Three Palestinians in Airstrike Near Jenin, Targeting Hamas Operative Qais Bitawi
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Israeli airstrike near Jenin in West Bank kills three Palestinians, including Hamas operative Qais Bitwani. Strike targeted a car in the Saha area west of Jenin refugee camp.
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Airstrike Kills Three in Jenin
Israel carried out an airstrike near the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Friday, killing three Palestinians, according to the Israeli military. Reuters reported that the strike targeted a car in the area of Jenin in the northern West Bank and identified the target as Qais Bitawi, describing him as a Hamas militant operative and saying two accomplices were killed alongside him. The Israeli military wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad said Qais Bitawi and the other two people killed were its fighters, describing Bitawi as one of the leading leaders of the Al-Quds Brigades in the West Bank.
The Palestine Chronicle Staff said the attack hit the Harsh al-Saada area west of the Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank and identified one of those killed as Qais al-Bitawi, a leader in the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. The Palestine Chronicle Staff also reported that initial Israeli media reports said a vehicle had been targeted, while an Anadolu correspondent said the strike hit a partially constructed home rather than a vehicle.
Ambulance Blocked, Leaders React
The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces briefly detained its medics who arrived at the strike site and that the military confiscated medical equipment and ordered the teams to leave the area without evacuating patients, according to UA.NEWS. Reuters also said the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance service reported that Israeli ground troops raided the site of the drone strike, briefly detained medics and prevented them from transporting those wounded or killed to hospital. Hamas condemned the strike, calling it a mass killing committed by occupation forces, while the Israeli military said the operation was conducted as part of Operation Iron Wall, launched in early 2025 in refugee camps in the northern West Bank.
UA.NEWS reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz congratulated the military on carrying out the operation, with Katz saying on X that Israeli forces are operating in the West Bank under an aggressive and proactive policy. The Jerusalem Post reported that Netanyahu congratulated the IDF for the "successful thwarting of the terrorists in Jenin" in an X/Twitter post earlier on Friday, and it quoted Katz saying, "We do not wait for terrorism," as he described the strike as among the "fruits of the offensive and proactive policy we are leading in Judea and Samaria."
Operation Iron Wall and Fallout
Israel’s military said the strike targeted a Hamas operative in the Jenin network and that the militant network in Jenin was dismantled as part of Operation Iron Wall, according to UA.NEWS. UA.NEWS said UNRWA reported that the large-scale operation led to the displacement of nearly 40,000 people from the camps, and it added that AFP calculations based on Palestinian Authority data put the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank at at least 1,100 since Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The Jerusalem Post reported that the strike followed an extensive intelligence effort led by the Shin Bet and the Military Intelligence Directorate, including arresting and interrogating dozens of Bitwani's accomplices suspected of being in contact with him.
Ynetnews said the strike was unusual because Israel had not carried out an airstrike in the West Bank for about 10 months, and it described Qais Bitawi as a senior terrorist in the Jenin network whom the IDF, Shin Bet and Israel Police’s elite Yamam counterterrorism unit identified as planning attacks. In the same reporting, Ynetnews said Israeli security forces delayed Palestinian Red Crescent crews attempting to reach the scene and evacuate casualties, while it also stated that a firearm was found inside the vehicle used by the three terrorists.