Israeli strike kills three Palestinians in West Bank’s Jenin

For context, the Israeli army has killed three Palestinians in Jenin in a rare air strike in the occupied West Bank, against the backdrop of growing tensions in the territory.

Key points

• Military raids on Palestinian towns in the West Bank are common, but Israel last carried out a strike there in February 2025.
• After the attack, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz congratulated the military, police and Shin Bet for the strike and remarked the Jenin camp has been "evacuated of residents".
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu celebrated the strike in a post on X, calling it a "successful thwarting" of the three targeted individuals.
• Hamas condemned the strike but did not claim the person targeted – whom the Israeli military identified as Qais Bitawi – as a member.
• The Red Crescent remarked its personnel were additionally detained after arriving at the scene.

In an official note, the Israeli military remarked it "eliminated" three residents on Friday, one a Palestinian it described as a Hamas operative as well as two of his accomplices.

Hamas condemned the strike but did not claim the person targeted – whom the Israeli military identified as Qais Bitawi – as a member. Palestinian Islamic Jihad remarked in an official note Bitawi was a senior operative of its armed wing.

Notably, a spokesperson for the Israeli military remarked the strike targeted a car carrying the men.

Notably, the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance service remarked Israeli ground troops ⁠raided the site of the drone strike, briefly detained medics and ⁠prevented them from transporting those wounded or killed to hospital.

Meanwhile, the Red Crescent remarked its personnel were additionally detained after arriving at the scene.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Wafa news agency documented that the Israeli drone strike had targeted a house under construction in the western area of Jenin City, and that three Palestinians were killed instantly.

Photos from the AFP news agency indicated Israeli soldiers removing a body from a house under construction on the outskirts of Jenin. 'Stop these crimes and end impunity'.

After the attack, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz congratulated the military, police and Shin Bet for the strike and remarked the Jenin camp has been "evacuated of residents". He continued that the Israeli military is now "permanently stationed there, like other terrorist camps" in the West Bank.

Hamas condemned the strike in an official note mourning "the martyrs who fell in the occupation's bombing of Jenin, " saying that Palestinians "will continue to cling to their land and rights".

For context, the group called on the international community "to take immediate action to stop these crimes and end impunity" and hold Israel "fully responsible for the repercussions".

Meanwhile, the occupied West Bank, home to the Palestinian Authority, has seen soaring violence by Israeli settlers and soldiers but has lately avoided Israeli military strikes that have devastated the Gaza Strip since the genocidal war began on October 7, 2023.

Friday's strike in Jenin comes as separate Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least five individuals, and as Nikolay Mladenov, the high representative for the United States-led Board of Peace, cautioned that the failure of both sides to adhere to the roadmap for peace "threatens a collapse of the ceasefire in Gaza".

For now, israeli strike kills three Palestinians in West Bank's Jenin remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.