Palestinian Assailant Injures Four in Tel Aviv as Israel Continues West Bank Operation

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In Tel Aviv on Tuesday, a Palestinian man intentionally drove his car into pedestrians, causing injuries to at least four individuals. The attack was commended by the Islamist militant group Hamas as a retaliatory measure against Israel’s ongoing military operation in the occupied West Bank.

According to Israeli paramedics, a car veered into pedestrians on a sidewalk in the coastal city, resulting in the injury of at least four people. Eli Levi, a police spokesman, stated on Kan public radio that the incident was a deliberate act of aggression. A civilian at the scene shot and killed the driver.

The Hamas militant group hailed the attack as a “heroic act of revenge” in response to the military operation in Jenin.

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The attacker was identified by Israeli media as Hasin Halila, a 23-year-old Palestinian man from a village near the West Bank city of Hebron.

This attack coincided with Israeli forces continuing their pursuit of Palestinian militants and weapons in a West Bank refugee camp. Military bulldozers plowed through alleys, causing thousands of residents to evacuate to safety. The death toll among Palestinians rose to 10 during the two-day operation.

The large-scale raid on the Jenin camp, which began on Monday, is one of the most intensive military operations in the occupied West Bank in nearly two decades. It bears similarities to Israeli military tactics employed during the early 2000s’ second Palestinian uprising. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces mounting pressure from his ultranationalist political allies for a robust response to recent attacks on Israeli settlers, including a shooting incident that claimed four lives last month.

Earlier in the day, rubble littered the streets of Jenin, and reports of damage to shops emerged. The camp in the northern West Bank city, which has long been a stronghold of Palestinian militants, periodically witnessed columns of black smoke rising into the sky.

Nidal Al-Obeidi, the Mayor of Jenin, disclosed that around 4,000 Palestinians had fled the refugee camp, seeking refuge with relatives or in shelters. Camp residents reported a lack of water and electricity.

Throughout the West Bank, Palestinians staged a general strike in protest against the Israeli incursion.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported an increase in the two-day death toll, reaching a total of 10, with two additional deaths reported overnight. The Israeli military asserted that all those killed were militants but did not provide specific details.

During Tuesday’s operations, the military announced the confiscation of weapons and the demolition of tunnels beneath a mosque in the Jenin refugee camp.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israeli military, stated on Monday that the operation was initiated because around 50 attacks in the past year had originated from Jenin.

Since Monday, hundreds of Israeli troops have continued their operations in the camp, seizing weapons, explosives, and dismantling tunnels and command posts, according to the army.

Israeli media reported that at least 120 suspected Palestinian militants had been arrested by the army since the beginning of the operation.

The Palestinian self-rule government in the West Bank, along with Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates—countries that have normalized ties with Israel—and the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, condemned Israel’s incursion.

This year, over 140 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, marking a significant escalation of violence over the past year and resulting in some of the worst bloodshed in the region in nearly two decades. Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis have claimed the lives of at least 26 people.

Israel maintains that the raids are aimed at curbing Palestinian militants and preventing attacks. Palestinians argue that such violence is inevitable in the absence of any political progress with Israel, exacerbated by increased settlement construction and extremist settler violence in the West Bank.

Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war. The Palestinians aspire to establish an independent state in those territories.

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More about Palestinian attacker, West Bank operation

• Palestinian attacker wounds 4 in Tel Aviv
• Israel launches military operation in West Bank
• Hamas praises attack as revenge for military operation
• Israeli military operation in Jenin camp
• Escalating violence in the West Bank
• International reactions to Israel’s incursion
• Background on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict