JENIN, Palestinian Territories: The Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike in the occupied West Bank on Friday, killing three Palestinian militants in the Jenin area as tensions continue to rise across the territory.

The strike marks a rare use of Israeli air power in the West Bank, where military raids on Palestinian towns and refugee camps are common but airstrikes have remained relatively unusual in recent years.

The West Bank, which is partly administered by the Palestinian Authority, has experienced increasing violence involving Israeli forces, Palestinian armed groups and Israeli settlers. The territory has also faced heightened tensions amid the continuing regional conflict that followed the October 7, 2023 attacks and Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza.

The Israeli military said three militants were killed during the operation near the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

It identified one of those killed as Qais Bitawi, whom it described as a Hamas operative linked to what it called a dismantled militant network in Jenin.

According to the Israeli military, Bitawi was involved in militant activities including directing, financing and carrying out attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces.

The military also alleged that Bitawi maintained contacts with Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip and abroad.

Israeli forces said weapons were discovered in the vehicle used by the three men.

AFP photographs showed Israeli soldiers removing a body from a building under construction on the outskirts of Jenin following the attack.

The Palestinian health ministry said it had been informed of the deaths of three men in their 20s, including 22-year-old Bitawi.

The ministry said the men were targeted by a drone in the Jenin area and that their bodies were being withheld.

The reported deaths add to the growing toll in the occupied West Bank, where violence has intensified since the outbreak of the wider conflict in October 2023.

The Palestinian Red Crescent also reported difficulties in responding to the incident.

According to the organisation, Israeli forces briefly detained its crews after they arrived at the scene, confiscated their medical equipment and ordered them to leave without evacuating patients.

Hamas condemned the Israeli airstrike in Jenin, warning that the attack would lead to further confrontation.

The group’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, described Bitawi as one of its commanders and said he was killed in what it called an assassination operation.

However, another Palestinian armed group gave a different account of the identities of the victims.

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad said Bitawi and the other two men killed in the strike were members of its forces.

The competing claims could not be independently verified.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz praised Israeli forces for the operation.

The military said the Jenin militant network had been dismantled as part of Operation Iron Wall, a major campaign launched in early 2025 targeting Palestinian armed groups in northern parts of the occupied West Bank.

Israeli authorities have said the operation is aimed at preventing attacks and dismantling militant infrastructure.

Israeli forces have conducted extensive operations in Jenin, an area long regarded by Israel as a centre of Palestinian armed activity.

Israeli tanks were also deployed in Jenin during the operation, an unusual development that highlighted the scale of the campaign.

The Israeli military campaign has had a major impact on Palestinian residents in northern West Bank refugee camps.

According to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, nearly 40,000 people have been displaced from the camps as a result of the operation.

The displacement has added to concerns about the humanitarian situation in the occupied territory.

The West Bank has experienced growing violence involving Israeli forces and settlers, while Palestinian armed groups have also carried out attacks against Israelis.

The situation has remained particularly tense in and around Jenin, where Israeli military operations have repeatedly targeted suspected militants.

West Bank Violence Has Increased Since 2023

Since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, at least 1,100 Palestinians in the West Bank, including armed fighters, have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Authority data.

Israeli official figures cited by AFP indicate that at least 48 Israelis, including civilians and soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations over the same period.

The figures illustrate the sharp escalation in violence across the West Bank since 2023.

While the territory has not experienced the same level of destruction as Gaza, repeated military raids, settler violence, arrests and attacks have contributed to a worsening security situation.

Jenin and its surrounding refugee camp have long been associated with Palestinian militant activity and have frequently been the focus of Israeli military operations.

The city is located in the northern West Bank, close to the border with Israel, and has historically been a stronghold for several Palestinian armed groups.

The latest Jenin airstrike is significant because Israeli air operations in the West Bank have been relatively rare compared with ground raids.

The escalation is likely to further heighten tensions between Israel and Palestinian armed groups and could increase concerns over the humanitarian consequences of military operations in the territory.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. Under the Oslo Accords of the 1990s, the Palestinian Authority received limited self-rule in parts of the territory.

The Palestinian Authority is dominated by the Fatah movement, which remains a political rival of Hamas.