Head of terror network was allegedly preparing major terror attack on Oct. 7 anniversary; rare strike by fighter jet is one of the deadliest in West Bank in years
An Israeli fighter jet carried out a rare attack in Tulkarem late Thursday, with the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry reporting at least 18 fatalities in one of the deadliest airstrikes in the West Bank in recent memory.
A joint statement from the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet said the strike targeted Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi, a top Hamas commander in Tulkarem, along with six other Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives.
Hamas’s military wing released a statement a day after the attack that confirmed Oufi was a commander and also named seven other members who were killed.
According to the military, Oufi was planning a terror attack “in the immediate time frame.” Military sources said he was planning a major terror attack on the first anniversary of the October 7 onslaught. The sources described Oufi as a “ticking time bomb.”
The joint IDF and Shin Bet statement said Oufi planned and led an
attempted car bombing attack near the settlement of Ateret last month.
He was also involved in providing weapons to other terror operatives who carried out numerous attacks in the West Bank and in Israel recently, including those that led to the injury of Israeli civilians, according to the military.
The IDF and Shin Bet added that he “worked to establish terrorist networks on behalf of Hamas and assisted terror operatives in the area to carry out significant shooting and explosive attacks.”
“[He] intended to carry out an attack in the immediate time frame,” and therefore the strike was carried out, the IDF said.