RAMALLAH, West Bank: Hamas said that one of its commanders in the occupied West Bank was killed in a clash with Israeli forces.
In a statement released late Monday, Hamas said Mohammed Jaber Abdo was killed along with three other fighters in a village near Ramallah, where the Western-backed Palestinian Authority is headquartered.
A joint statement by the Israeli army and police earlier on Monday said undercover forces had tracked down a suspect wanted in an attack on a nearby Jewish settlement.
Violence has surged in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, which was ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel.
Over 530 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since then, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Most were killed during violent protests or Israeli arrest raids, which often trigger gunbattles
Four israeli soldiers killed in south Gaza
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that four soldiers had been killed in fighting in southern Gaza the previous day, more than eight months into its war against Hamas militants.
The soldiers were “killed in fighting in south Gaza” on Monday, the military said in a statement, without elaborating on the circumstances of their deaths.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan said that the soldiers were killed in an explosion in a building in Gaza’s far-southern city of Rafah.
The latest deaths took to 298 the military’s overall losses since its ground offensive in Gaza began on October 27, it said.
UN Security Council adopts Gaza resolution
Earlier Monday, the UN Security Council overwhelmingly approved a US resolution that welcomes a proposal for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 36,730 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. Palestinians are facing widespread hunger because the war has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and other supplies. UN agencies say over 1 million in Gaza could experience the highest level of starvation by mid-July.
Israel launched the war after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250.
