Israeli Military Says it Killed 'Islamic Jihad' Member in West Bank Air Strike

The rubble of destroyed structures during an Israeli military operation in the Al Nusairat refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, 19 February 2024. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
The rubble of destroyed structures during an Israeli military operation in the Al Nusairat refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, 19 February 2024. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
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Israeli Military Says it Killed 'Islamic Jihad' Member in West Bank Air Strike

The rubble of destroyed structures during an Israeli military operation in the Al Nusairat refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, 19 February 2024. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
The rubble of destroyed structures during an Israeli military operation in the Al Nusairat refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, 19 February 2024. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

The Israeli military said on Friday it had targeted a member from the Islamic Jihad group in an air strike in the occupied West Bank who was on his way to carry out an attack.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA said a 17-year-old was also killed in the strike late on Thursday in the city of Jenin, with more than a dozen others injured.
The Israeli military said the strike targeted Yasser Hanoun, who had carried out several shooting attacks over the past few weeks, reported Reuters.
Violence in the West Bank, among the territories which the Palestinians want for an independent state, was on the rise before the Gaza war and has increased since, with frequent Israeli arrest raids and often deadly clashes.
Israel began its military offensive in Gaza after fighters from Hamas-ruled Gaza killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in southern Israel on Oct. 7, according to Israeli tallies.
The offensive against Hamas has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians, according to local authorities, laying waste much of the enclave to waste and displacing most of its 2.3 million population.
Israel says its goal is to eliminate Hamas, a group sworn to Israel's destruction.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.