The Israeli army announced the "elimination of a leader of the Al-Qassam Brigades in the Tulkarim refugee camp in the northern West Bank, by drone." The spokesperson for the Israeli army, Avichai Adraee, stated in a statement that "during an extensive operation in Tulkarim, the Defense Forces and the General Security Service eliminated the leader of the Hamas terrorist network in the Tulkarim area."
He added that "the Defense Forces, along with the Harov special unit, the Duvdevan unit, the 636 unit, the General Security Service, and Border Police, launched a broad campaign last night to thwart terrorism in Tulkarim, as part of a series of over 50 operations at the regional level since the outbreak of the war."
Adraee continued: "The forces hit several armed perpetrators during exchanges of gunfire and destroyed explosives planted under the axes." He mentioned that "during the campaign, a drone targeted militants belonging to terrorist organizations in the area, some of whom were wanted for promoting and carrying out terrorist operations against the Defense Forces and the State of Israel from the Tulkarim refugee camp."
Adraee confirmed that "among those eliminated was Ashraf Nafeh, who is the Al-Qassam leader in the Tulkarim camp, and Muhammad Awad, who was one of the perpetrators linked to the terrorist infrastructure in the Tulkarim camp and had carried out terrorist shootings against the Defense Forces. Awad was collecting large sums of money for terrorism to encourage terrorist operations in the area and was working on purchasing the equipment and means necessary for the terrorist battalion’s activities."
During this announcement made by Adraee, the Israeli army, by using drones in the West Bank, has indeed implemented statements made by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last Sunday, who announced the removal of restrictions on the use of warplanes in the West Bank and issued orders to the Israeli army to "eliminate" armed brigades there. Gallant stated: "We have issued orders to the Israeli army's central command to eliminate the armed brigades in the West Bank." He added: "I also removed the restrictions on the use of military drones in the West Bank to reduce the risk to soldiers' lives."
