A leading Islamic Jihad commander has been killed in a shootout with the Israeli army in a West Bank mosque.
Special forces killed Muhhamad Jabber, also known as Abu Shujaa, during a second consecutive day of operations in the city of Tulkarm on Thursday morning.
Four others, who were said to be “hiding inside a mosque” with him, were also killed.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said Jabber, who was the head of Islamic Jihad’s network in Nur Shams, was involved in carrying out “numerous terror attacks, including a shooting attack in which an Israeli civilian, Amnon Muchtar, was murdered in June”.
“Jabber was also involved in the planning of additional terror attacks. Another terrorist operative was apprehended by the forces,” it added.
He had reportedly been killed by Israeli forces earlier this year but then made a surprise appearance at someone else’s funeral, according to Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper.
Footage from Tulkarm showed damage to buildings in the aftermath of the shootout, while in Jenin bulldozers were seen looking for explosive devices.
It came as Khaled Mashal, a leading Hamas official, said the terror group intended to “return to [suicide] operations” and warned that Israel’s operations in the West Bank could only be met by “open conflict”.