Rare IDF airstrike in Palestinian Samarian town kills Hamas commander planning terror attack on Oct 7 anniversary

An Israeli airstrike eliminated Hamas' top commander in the city of Tulkarm as he was planning to carry out a terror attack in Israel on Oct. 7, according to an announcement from Israel Defense Forces and the domestic intelligence service Shin Bet on Friday.

The rare, large-scale strike by Israeli Air Force (IAF) jets in the western Samarian town of Tulkarm, located just about 14 km (9 miles) east of Israel's coastal city, Netanya, killed Zahi Yasser Abd al-Razzak Oufi, the commander of the local Hamas cell.

In the past, Oufi had been actively involved in planning and executing several significant terror attacks in Judea and Samaria, and “planned and led the attempted car bomb attack in Ateret on September 2, 2024.”

According to the IDF, Oufi “provided weapons to many terrorist operatives in the area and planned to carry out many more significant attacks on settlements in Judea and Samaria and the rest of the Israeli rear.”

“In this framework, he worked to establish terrorist infrastructures on behalf of Hamas and helped terrorist operatives in the area carry out significant shooting and explosive attacks.”

For several years, the IDF refrained from conducting airstrikes in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) but has drastically increased the number of drone and IAF strikes since the start of the war.

According to Palestinian sources, at least 18 Palestinians were killed in the airstrike, highlighting that an unusually large ordnance was used. In recent months, the IDF conducted several drone strikes, each killing a small number of terrorists per strike.

The IDF said the strike on Oufi eliminated several other “key operatives who were also active in the terrorist infrastructure in Tulkarm.”

On Wednesday, the IDF said Israeli troops mapped out and prepared to destroy the homes of the terrorists who murdered seven Israelis in Jaffa on Tuesday.

During the operation in Hebron, soldiers interrogated and arrested several individuals suspected of aiding terrorists in acquiring weapons and entering Israel illegally.

Overall, Israeli forces arrested 16 wanted persons across Judea and Samaria. During the raids, soldiers confiscated an M-16 rifle and a gun near Ramallah and confiscated a gun that was used by a terrorist to shoot at the soldiers in Burkin.

In other raids on Wednesday, soldiers found more weapons, ammunition and materials for making explosives.