Israeli strike on West Bank kills 16, including Hamas network head

At least 16 people were killed in an Israeli strike on the Tulkarm refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority said on Thursday.

“Sixteen martyrs following the bombing of the Tulkarm camp by the occupation,” the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on its Telegram account.

The Israeli military said early on Friday it killed the head of the Hamas network in a strike on West Bank’s Tulkarm.

In a statement, the military identified the Hamas operative as Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi.

The Palestinian Red Crescent, separately, said that at least five people were killed in the strike on Tulkarm.

Violence has surged in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, with almost daily sweeps by Israeli forces that have involved thousands of arrests and regular gunbattles between security forces and Palestinian fighters.