Israeli Raid Near Tulkarm Claims Lives Of Five Palestinians, Including Four Hamas Members

Israeli forces kill five Palestinians, including four Hamas members, in a raid near Tulkarm, West Bank.
Raid targeted Hamas cell responsible for multiple attacks, resulting in the demolition of a two-story house.
Incident escalates tensions amid ongoing clashes between Israelis and Palestinians, with renewed calls for a two-state solution.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that Israeli forces conducted an overnight raid near Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank, resulting in the deaths of five Palestinians, including four members of Hamas, as confirmed by Palestinian and Israeli officials on Saturday.

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Hamas acknowledged that four of the deceased were affiliated with its al-Qassam armed wing, with their bodies reportedly taken by the Israeli military.

The identity of the fifth casualty remains unknown due to severe disfigurement.

Israeli Raid Near Tulkarm Claims Lives Of Five Palestinians, Including Four Hamas Members

The Israeli military stated that the operation targeted a Hamas cell responsible for multiple shooting and car bombing attacks, which included the killing of a reservist soldier and the injuring of a police officer in November, as well as a car bombing in April that wounded two Israelis.

This incident near Tulkarm is the latest in a series of confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the West Bank, escalating over the past two years and intensifying following Hamas-led attacks on Israel last October.

Hamas had been expanding its network in the West Bank prior to the conflict.

During the raid, the Israeli army demolished a two-story house using a bulldozer, in an operation lasting over 12 hours.

According to records from the Palestinian Health Ministry, nearly 500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank or East Jerusalem since October.

While many were armed fighters, casualties also included stone-throwing youths and uninvolved civilians.

Palestinians aspire for the West Bank and Gaza, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, to form the nucleus of an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Efforts for a two-state solution, backed by the U.S., have stalled for the past decade, but the Gaza conflict has heightened pressure for their revival.

Health officials in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip report that over 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s seven-month assault, which commenced with Hamas militants’ attack on Israel in October.