ALWAGHT- Palestinian media reported that an Israeli airstrike targeting a vehicle in the occupied West Bank on Saturday resulted in the death of a Hamas commander.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that, according to Amin Khader, Director of the Thabet Government Hospital in Tulkarm, the bodies of five individuals arrived at the facility on Saturday morning. They were severely burned and charred beyond recognition, except for one identified as 25-year-old Yaytham Nuriddin Bleidi from the Tulkarm refugee camp.
Local sources indicated that an Israeli military drone targeted the vehicle with two missiles, killing all five men and igniting the vehicle.
After the airstrike, Israeli forces raided the area and sealed off the scene, preventing residents from approaching. Despite this, paramedics and locals managed to recover the bodies and transport them to the hospital.
Palestinian media reported that Haitham Balidi, the leader of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas Resistance movement in Tulkarm, has been martyred following an Israeli drone strike on the vehicle he was traveling in.
Since the onset of Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip in early October 2023, casualties in the West Bank have surged due to intensified near-daily Israeli raids on villages and cities in the occupied territories.
Over 570 Palestinians, including 141 children, have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or Zionist settlers since the conflict began, with nearly 10,000 Palestinians detained. Additionally, at least 39,480 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip over the past ten months amid the regime's ongoing military campaign.