Israeli drones bomb two West Bank cities within 24 hours
Drone strikes have recently become increasingly common in the occupied West Bank since an operation in Jenin last year
Israeli troops withdrew from the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem early on 21 March following a massive raid into the city and fierce clashes with resistance fighters.
The infrastructure of the city and its camp were ravaged by Israeli bulldozers.
Tulkarem’s Nour Shams camp was besieged by Israeli forces from all sides at the onset of the raid on Wednesday evening ahead of a deadly drone strike.
“Nidal Mamoun Abu Obaid, 23, and Iyad Nidal Azmi Kanouh, 19, were killed after an Israeli drone bombed a site in Al-Manshiya neighborhood in Nour Shams camp,” WAFA news agency reported.
At least two others were killed in the attack on Tulkarem. Among the dead were resistance fighters.
Fierce clashes raged in the city and the camp on Wednesday night as fighters targeted the invading troops with gunfire and explosive devices.
“Our heroic fighters are engaged in fierce clashes with the occupation forces and their military vehicles that are storming Nour Shams camp from several fronts, using machine guns and explosive devices,” the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said in a statement.
The massive and destructive raid on Tulkarem came just hours after an Israeli drone attack on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
“Israeli drones targeted a vehicle with at least two missiles, as it was passing the street adjacent to the Ibn Sina hospital, which set the vehicle ablaze,” eyewitnesses told WAFA. “The bodies of two people were reduced to burned remains … doctors faced great difficulty in identifying them,” the outlet added.
Those killed in the strike on Jenin were resistance fighters belonging to the Jenin Brigade of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement’s Quds Brigade. They were identified as Ahmad Barakat, Ziad Hamran, Mahmoud al-Rahal, and Mohammed al-Fayed.
Several people were injured at their funeral after Palestinian Authority (PA) forces opened fire at crowds.
According to local reports, a Palestinian spy working with Israel – who reportedly played a role in the drone assassinations in Jenin – was executed by fighters of the Jenin Brigade hours after the attack early on Thursday morning.
Drone strikes have become increasingly common lately in the occupied West Bank since a massive Israeli operation in the Jenin refugee camp in July 2023, when the Israeli forces launched their first aerial attack on the city since 2002.
As the war rages on in Gaza, Israeli troops continue to step up violence and repression in the occupied West Bank in coordination with the PA.