Watch | Israeli forces chase local Hamas commander, kill him in West Bank

According to a report by news agency Reuters, the vehicle carrying the Hamas commander, which was later found burnt-out and bullet-riddled, was stopped after being chased by an Israeli special forces unit in Zababdeh.

🔴 Wassem Hazem, the head of Hamas in Jenin, was eliminated during a counterterrorism operation in the northern Samaria area. He was identified alongside a terrorist cell in a vehicle in the area.

Hazem was involved in carrying out and directing shooting and bombing attacks,… pic.twitter.com/TioV7BkZhS

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 30, 2024

The Israeli military reported that its troops identified and killed the leader while he was driving. When two other militants in the car tried to escape, they were killed by an airstrike.

The military also reported that border police forces discovered weapons, explosives, and large sums of cash in the vehicle. Hamas confirmed the deaths of all three men, stating they were members of its Al-Qassam Brigades armed wing, Reuters stated.

This incident occurred as Israeli forces continued a large-scale operation involving hundreds of troops and police, launched early Wednesday morning in Jenin and Tulkarm, another volatile city in the northern West Bank, as well as the Jordan Valley. On Friday, Israeli armored personnel carriers, supported by helicopters and drones, advanced into Jenin and Tulkarm, while armored bulldozers tore up roads to neutralise roadside bombs planted by militant groups.

The escalation in hostilities in the West Bank coincides with ongoing fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, nearly 11 months since it began, and increased clashes with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement along the Israel-Lebanon border.