Three cousins, including two children, were killed in an Israeli drone strike in the West Bank on Wednesday, according to the local Palestinian governor and relatives, raising fears that increased violence could further destabilize the Israeli-occupied territory. It was announced that there is.
The attack struck the courtyard of his cousins' home in the town of Tumon, said Ahmed Assad, the governor of Palestine's Tubas region. He identified the dead as two young children, Rida Basharat and Hamza Basharat, and a young adult, Addam Basharat.
Assad said Israeli officials later informed the Palestinians that all three had died and that their bodies were in Israeli custody. The Israeli military announced it had launched a drone strike against a “terrorist group” in Tamun, but did not immediately comment on Palestinian media reports that two children were killed.
Their next of kin could not be immediately reached, but Mamun Abu Muhsin, a member of the extended family, confirmed their identity in a phone interview Wednesday night after saying the bodies had been returned from Israel. Confirmed death.
Violence has escalated in the West Bank over the past year and a half, as Israel is at war with militant groups including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israeli forces have escalated raids on Palestinian cities in the West Bank, sometimes lasting days at a time, bulldozing roads and engaging in gun battles with Hamas and Palestinian Jihad militants. I am doing some things.
Wednesday's airstrike followed a Palestinian shooting that killed three Israelis, including two women in their 70s, two days earlier. Israeli officials immediately vowed retaliation for the deadly attack.
“We are witnessing an acceleration of Palestinian attempts to promote terrorism in Judea and Samaria,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday, using the West Bank's Biblical name. Ta. The Israeli government considers the West Bank to be a conflict zone, not occupied territory. He said Israel would take “a proportionate response” to protect its approximately 500,000 people living in West Bank settlements.
More than 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank since October 2023, following the Hamas-led offensive that sparked the Gaza war, according to the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Health. The number of fighters is unknown, but the number includes some civilians, including women and children, killed by Israeli security forces.
Around 50 Israelis were killed by Palestinians in militant attacks in the West Bank during the same period, according to the United Nations. Israel's internal security agency, Shin Bet, announced it had thwarted more than 1,000 attacks in 2024, including hundreds of shootings.
The Palestinian Authority, which controls some areas under Israeli occupation, also launched its own operation against Palestinian militants in Jenin in December. Several Palestinian officers were killed, as well as some civilians, including a young woman and a teenage bystander.
