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Ceasefire scene: Israeli soldiers at a tank near the border with the Gaza Strip

Photo: MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP

The armed wing of the radical Islamic group Hamas has confirmed the deaths of four leaders during the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip. The Essedin al-Qassam Brigades confirmed on Sunday the deaths of Ahmed al-Gandur, the military leader in the northern Gaza Strip, and three other senior fighters. According to Israeli media, Ayman Siyjam, the leader of the brigades' rocket unit, was among those killed.

Mission in Jenin

In addition, according to Palestinian sources, Israeli forces killed eight Palestinians in the West Bank on Saturday evening and Sunday, six of whom were killed in the city of Jenin. The Israeli military said it wanted to arrest a Palestinian suspected of involvement in an attack in August in an "anti-terror operation."

The Israeli military did not initially provide further details about the incident in Jenin, which witnesses describe as fighting between gunmen and soldiers. Six people were also injured, according to the Palestinian Health Authority. Later reports by the AFP news agency even speak of 15 injured.

Jenin is considered a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups. According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, Israeli forces stormed Jenin from several directions, firing bullets and surrounding state hospitals and the headquarters of the Red Crescent. Soldiers also searched ambulances. The information cannot currently be independently verified.

Another death was reported by Palestinian officials near the city of Nablus, and an eighth was reported outside the city of Al-Bire near a Jewish settlement. There was no Israeli statement on either of them.

Violence in the West Bank has increased

Since the beginning of the war between Israel and the radical Islamic Hamas in the Gaza Strip a good 50 days ago, violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has also increased massively. According to Palestinian sources, around 230 Palestinians have been killed there since then by the Israeli army or radical Israeli settlers.

On October 7, hundreds of Hamas fighters from the Gaza Strip, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the US and the EU, entered Israel and committed atrocities there, mainly against civilians, including many women and children. According to the Israeli government, about 1200,240 people were killed, and about <> people were taken hostage to the Gaza Strip.

In response, Israel began massively attacking targets in the Gaza Strip from the air and the ground. According to Hamas, which cannot be independently verified, more than 14,800 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since then.

mamk/Reuters/AFP