Israeli drone strike kills three in Jenin

An Israeli drone strike killed three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Friday. The Israeli military said it 'eliminated' a Hamas operative and two accomplices, a claim Hamas did not confirm.

According to the Israeli military, the strike targeted a car carrying the men. The Palestinian Wafa news agency reported the drone hit a house under construction in western Jenin City, killing three people instantly. Photos from the AFP news agency showed Israeli soldiers removing a body from such a site on the city's outskirts.

The Palestine Red Crescent ambulance service said Israeli ground troops raided the strike site. The medics were briefly detained and prevented from transporting the wounded or killed to hospital. The Red Crescent stated its personnel were also detained after arriving.

Conflicting claims and reactions

Israel identified one of the dead as Qais Bitawi, described as a Hamas operative. Hamas condemned the strike but did not claim Bitawi as a member. Palestinian Islamic Jihad said in a statement that Bitawi was a senior operative of its armed wing.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu celebrated the strike on X, calling it a 'successful thwarting' of the three individuals. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz congratulated the military, police, and Shin Bet. He said the Jenin camp has been 'evacuated of residents' and that the Israeli military is now 'permanently stationed there, like other terrorist camps' in the West Bank.

Hamas issued a statement mourning 'the martyrs who fell in the occupation's bombing of Jenin.' The group said Palestinians 'will continue to cling to their land and rights.' It called on the international community 'to take immediate action to stop these crimes and end impunity' and to hold Israel 'fully responsible for the repercussions.'

Context of West Bank violence

The occupied West Bank has seen soaring violence by Israeli settlers and soldiers. It has recently avoided the scale of Israeli military strikes that have devastated the Gaza Strip since the war began on October 7, 2023. Military raids on Palestinian towns are common, but Israel last carried out an air strike in the West Bank in February 2025.

Friday's strike in Jenin occurred as separate Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least five people. Nikolay Mladenov, the high representative for the United States-led Board of Peace, warned that the failure of both sides to adhere to the roadmap for peace 'threatens a collapse of the ceasefire in Gaza.'