Yesterday (Monday), in the early hours of the night, the IDF carried out a powerful air strike against a terrorist target in the Nur-a-Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm. Nur-a-Shams has become a major terrorist stronghold in the past year, and a focal point of action by Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, which required an expanded IDF force to operate there, first in extensive ground movements, and later in increasing use of air forces.
According to the IDF, the attack targeted the terrorist organization’s “operations room” and led to the elimination of 5 terrorists. The IDF Reports were consistent with reports coming from the Palestinian street, which reported the deaths of five people after the bombing of an explosive device warehouse. One of those killed in the attack was Jibril Jibril, who is known as a Hamas operative from Qalqiliya. Jibril was arrested by IDF forces at the beginning of the war, but was released in mid-November as part of the first hostage deal between Israel and Hamas.
According to Palestinian reports, the fatalities in the attack appear to have been a mix of Hamas and Jihad members, indicating close cooperation between the organizations in Samaria (similar to what has been happening in the Gaza Strip, at least since the beginning of the war): The location of the attack, the warehouse/terror room, was located in the backyard of Abu Shaja’a, the commander of the PIJ’s Tulkarm district. Targets related to Abu Sheja’a were attacked by the IDF in the past, and in April there were temporary reports of its assassination, which turned out to be false. At this rate, there is no doubt that in the end Abu-Shaja’a will come to his grand day.
