The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed a terrorist leader in the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Thursday, along with several other terrorists. In response, the Palestinian Authority arrested an Al Jazeera reporter who was blamed for supposedly identifying the targets.
In a joint statement, the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet, or Shabak) said:
Earlier today (Thursday), in a joint IDF and ISA counterterrorism operation, the IAF conducted an ISA intelligence-based strike in the Tulkarm area and eliminated the terrorist Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi, the head of the Hamas terrorist network in Tulkarm.
Oufi planned and led the attempted car-bombing attack in Ateret on 02.09.2024. As part of his role, Oufi supplied weaponry to a large number of terrorists in the area, planning and leading a significant amount of additional terror attacks directed toward communities in Judea and Samaria and the rest of the the Israeli Homefront. Oufi planned to execute a terror attack in the immediate timeframe.
Furthermore, Oufi took part in the planning and executing of numerous significant and extreme terror attacks against Israeli civilians in Judea and Samaria, including attacks that led to the injury of additional Israeli civilians. Oufi operated to strengthen the Hamas terrorist network and aid additional terrorists in the area in the execution of significant shooting attacks and car bombings.
Alongside Oufi, multiple other significant terrorists who were part of the terror network in Tulkarm were eliminated.
This strike joins a number of significant counterterrorism activities that the IDF and ISA have conducted in northern Judea and Samaria since the start of the war.
Palestinians claimed that 18 people were killed; 7 of them were terrorists, according to Israeli officials, as cited by the Times of Israel.
The Times of Israel noted that Israeli officials said that the terror cell was planning an attack for the anniversary of October 7 next week.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority arrested Al Jazeera journalist Laith Jaar, who was reporting from the site of the attack in Tulkarm.
Jaar was reportedly assaulted by a member of the Palestinian Authority’s security forces, and when he went to the Palestinian Authority to complain, he was arrested.
In a statement, Al Jazeera said:
Al Jazeera Media Network strongly condemns the assault by a member of the Palestinian Authority’s security on its correspondent, Laith Jaar, in the West Bank while he was covering the Israeli bombardment of the Tulkarm refugee camp. According to Laith’s testimony, security officer Ahmad Ghassan Quzah assaulted him and threatened to shoot him.
The Network also condemns the subsequent detention and arrest of Laith by the national security, while filing a complaint against the security officer who assaulted him. The Network consider this action is part of a systematic incitement campaign against Laith and Al Jazeera’s coverage.
This attack and arrest represent a serious escalation and a clear violation of journalists’ rights, adding to the ongoing systematic targeting of our reporters in the Palestinian territories, particularly following the illegal closure of the Al Jazeera bureau in Ramallah by the Israeli occupation authorities.
According to social media, some Palestinians suspected Jaar of being a mole for the Israelis because some of those hit in the airstrike in Tulkarm were supposedly identified in a report he recently published.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
