Three Palestinian militants have been killed in a rare Israeli drone strike in the occupied West Bank, amid escalating violence in the territory.

The Israeli military said it targeted "a terrorist cell inside a suspicious vehicle" that carried out a shooting attack near Jalama on Wednesday night.

It was the first such strike in the West Bank since 2006, it added.

Palestinian first responders said they found three bodies in a burned-out car but soldiers prevented their removal.

Palestinian news agency Wafa identified them as Mohammed Bashar Uweis, 28, Suhayb Adnan al-Ghoul, 27, and Ashraf Murad Saadi, 17, and said they were all from the city of Jenin.

The militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) said Ghoul and Saadi were its fighters, while Uweis was from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, the armed wing of the Fatah movement.

PIJ warned Israel's leaders that they would "bear responsibility for their stupid decision to strike these operatives with drones and... keep their bodies".

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant tweeted: "We'll take an attacking and proactive approach against terror, we'll use all means at our disposal and exact the heaviest price from every terrorist."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its soldiers identified a vehicle carrying gunmen who had carried out a shooting at a checkpoint near Jalama, a town about 3.5km (2 miles) north of Jenin.

"The terrorist cell [had] carried out a number of shooting attacks toward communities in Judea and Samaria lately," it added, using the biblical term that Israel uses to refer to the West Bank.

"Following the identification of the terrorist cell, an IDF UAV [Unmanned Aerial Vehicle] fired toward the cell and thwarted them."

Witnesses said they heard gunfire shortly before the strike.

"After the sound of the bullets, I was sitting with my children and we decided to go inside because we thought there were clashes or something like that," resident Nasser Torokman told Reuters news agency.

"Later on, we heard a sound of a strong explosion. The first rocket fell and I saw that there was fire in the area and a burning car."

Video footage posted on social media showed what appeared to be several emergency vehicles near the burning wreck of the car targeted in the strike.

The drone strike came hours after a Palestinian man was shot dead during a rampage by hundreds of Israeli settlers who torched homes and cars in the town of Turmusaya, about 50km to the south.

The Palestinian health ministry said the man was shot dead by Israeli forces "while confronting the settlers". Israel's paramilitary border police said its forces were securing firefighters when residents "rioted" and troops fired at a man who shot at them.

The attack on Turmusaya followed the funeral in a nearby settlement a 17-year-old boy who was among four Israelis shot dead by two Palestinian gunmen from Hamas at a petrol station and restaurant on Tuesday.

Hamas, in turn, said that shooting was a response to an Israeli military raid in Jenin on Monday during which seven Palestinians were killed.

It saw the IDF's first use of an Apache attack helicopter in the West Bank in years. The helicopter fired missiles at militants who had targeted troop carriers with explosives, wounding seven soldiers.

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by David Gritten

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]