IDF: At least 4 Hamas operatives killed in overnight battles with troops

Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen exchanged fire in at least four towns in the West Bank in the predawn hours of Sunday morning during a serious of large raids to capture the members of a Hamas cell, the Israel Defense Forces said.

According to the IDF, at least four Hamas operatives were killed in the gun battles, but possibly more. The military did not immediately comment on Israeli casualties.

The arrest raids were conducted throughout the West Bank, primarily by the military’s elite Duvdevan counter-terrorism unit and by the Israel Police and Border Police counter-terrorism units, along with the Shin Bet security service.

The IDF refused to comment on what specifically the alleged Hamas cell was suspected of having done or planning to do, but said that most of the members were arrested with weapons and that some of them had opened fire at Israeli troops during the raids.

IDF Spokesperson Ran Kochav said that the military believed Hamas may retaliate to the deaths and arrests of its members with rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. Earlier this month, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad did the same in solidarity with its members who escaped Israeli prison and were subsequently captured by Israeli security forces.

The overnight operation began late Saturday night with an undercover raid in the flashpoint West Bank city of Jenin, in which Duvdevan troops arrested one of the members along with his gun, without resistance.

Shortly after midnight, Duvdevan conducted another raid in Kafr Dan, north of Jenin. Then too, the soldiers captured an armed suspect without an exchange of fire.

In the predawn hours of Sunday morning, Duvdevan soldiers entered the village of Burqin near Jenin to arrest another armed suspect there.

Palestinian media reported that the gunfire broke out after Israeli troops surrounded the home in which the suspect was hiding and called for him to exit.

According to Kochav, the armed terrorist was wounded in the gun battle with Israeli troops and captured, along with his weapon.

Nearby in Burqin there was a second gun battle between Palestinian gunmen and troops from Duvdevan and counter-terror unit from the Israel Police. At least one of the gunmen was killed in that exchange, Kochav said.

He was later identified in Palestinian media as Osama Sobah, 22.

One of the Palestinians killed in the overnight gun battle with IDF troops in Burqin near Jenin, is identified as 22 y/o Osama Sobah. pic.twitter.com/3RBhnucvtJ

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 26, 2021

Also in the Jenin area, troops from the Border Police’s counter-terrorism unit arrested a fourth armed suspect in the town of Qabatiya without resistance, the IDF spokesman said.

Finally, during a raid by the Israel Police’s Yamam counter-terrorism unit in the village of Bidu near Ramallah as part of the operation, at least three Hamas members were killed after they opened fire at the Israeli troops, according to Kochav.

No Israeli soldiers were…