Israeli forces carried out a rare airstrike in the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday, killing a man the military identified as Qais Bitawi along with two others traveling with him in a vehicle. The Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security agency said in a joint statement that the strike was based on precise intelligence and targeted Bitawi as part of ongoing efforts to counter what remains of an organized terror network in the area. According to the statement, weapons were discovered inside the vehicle following the strike. Israeli troops and members of the police's elite Yamam unit were reportedly involved in the broader operation that led up to the airstrike.

Israeli officials described Bitawi as a Hamas operative connected to the Jenin terrorist network, which was largely dismantled during a major Israeli military operation in 2025. Authorities say he was a relative of Noor Bitawi, the former commander of that same network who was killed by Israeli forces in May of that year. According to the joint statement, Bitawi continued directing and funding attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces even after being pushed out of the Jenin refugee camp, allegedly operating a cell from a nearby village. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz both publicly praised the operation shortly after it was carried out.

The identity and affiliation of the men killed drew mixed reactions. Hamas condemned the strike but stopped short of claiming Bitawi as one of its own members, instead mourning the deaths as part of what it called ongoing attacks against Palestinians. Palestinian Islamic Jihad, meanwhile, said in its own statement that Bitawi was actually a senior operative within its armed wing rather than Hamas, highlighting a discrepancy in how different groups and sources have described his affiliation. The Palestine Red Crescent said Israeli ground troops arrived at the scene after the strike and briefly held medics from transporting the wounded, though the extent and reasoning behind that delay wasn't fully detailed.

The strike marks one of the few times Israel has used air power so directly inside West Bank territory rather than in Gaza, underscoring how unusual and significant officials consider this operation. It comes amid a broader stretch of heightened tension across the West Bank, including a rise in confrontations involving Israeli settlers and repeated military raids into Palestinian towns. Video circulated by Israeli sources shows drone surveillance footage locking onto the targeted vehicle before the strike, followed by an explosion and rising smoke over the area. Officials say the operation reflects a continued, proactive approach toward preventing future attacks rather than responding only after violence occurs.