Israel’s military said Thursday it killed two Islamic Jihad militants who were involved in a deadly attack on a bus in the West Bank earlier this month.
The Israel Defense Forces said its troops killed the militants in the village of Burqin amid an exchange of fire after the militants had barricaded themselves in a building.
One Israeli soldier was injured in the attack, the military said.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz praised the operation Thursday and said Israel will continue its operation targeting terrorists in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank to ensure it does not become a base for attacks.
Israel launched the operation on Tuesday, days after it began a ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank increased after the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli counterassault in Gaza.
Palestinian health officials say Israeli raids and attacks by Israeli settlers have killed more than 800 Palestinians in the West Bank during that time. Israel’s military says at least 29 Israelis, including soldiers have been killed.
The Gaza war began with the Hamas attack in which the militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 people hostage.
Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 47,000, with most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
The U.S. State Department said new Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged to help Israeli free the remaining hostages as he spoke by telephone Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Rubio “congratulated the Prime Minister on Israel’s successes against Hamas and Hezbollah” and highlighted that maintaining “steadfast support for Israel is a top priority” for the United States under President Donald Trump, according to a statement from State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce.
Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror group, said it will release another round of hostages on Saturday.
A Hamas official told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday that the next group of hostages would be four Israeli women, who would be set free in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Shortly after the six-week ceasefire began, Hamas released three hostages while Israeli freed 90 Palestinian prisoners.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
