JERUSALEM (CNN) Israeli forces conducted a daylight raid on Jenin in the occupied West Bank targeting the suspect in the killing of two Jewish settlers, killing the suspect and at least five other Palestinian men, officials from both sides said on Tuesday.
The Israeli forces named the suspect Abdul-Fattah Hussein Kharousha and described him as a “Hamas terrorist”. The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified Kharousha, 49, as one of the six killed in Jenin. The other five were all men in their 20s, the ministry said, and at least 11 others were injured.
Hamas issued a brief statement saying it “mourns the martyrs of the heroic Jenin camp,” but did not immediately claim Kharousha as a member.
IDF forces at the same time conducted a separate raid in the West Bank city of Nablus to arrest two of Kharousha’s sons, they said. They are “suspected of having supported and planned the terrorist attack,” the military said, adding that they are in custody.
The raid is at least the third to take place in daylight this year. The previous two – one in Jenin and one in Nablus – each resulted in 11 Palestinian deaths, including militants attacked by Israeli forces, people who clashed with Israeli forces and bystanders.
People gather along a road during an Israeli military raid on the Jenin camp for Palestinian refugees in the West Bank on Tuesday.
Jewish settler brothers Hillel Yaniv, 21, and Yagel Yaniv, 19, were shot dead on February 26 as they drove through Huwara in the West Bank. They lived in the nearby Israeli settlement of Har Bracha.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation “today killed the heinous terrorist who murdered in cold blood the two lovely brothers Hillel and Yagel Yaniv”. Netanyahu ended a short video statement by adding: “As I say over and over again, whoever hurts us – his own head will have his blood.”
During Tuesday’s raid on the Jenin refugee camp, IDF forces surrounded Kharousha’s home, came under fire and responded with shoulder-fired rockets, an IDF official told CNN.
Two IDF soldiers were injured in the operation, including one with potentially life-threatening injuries, the official said, adding that IDF forces were having “problems” leaving Jenin due to burning tires and roadblocks. The official asked not to be named to update CNN on information that has not yet been released publicly.