Israeli Forces Kill 2 Palestinian Militants Wanted in Deadly Attack

Israel’s military on Thursday pressed ahead with its offensive in and around Jenin, a city known as a center of militant opposition to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, killing two men in a nearby village who were wanted for the murder of three Israelis.

The men, identified on Thursday as Mohamad Nazzal and Qutayba Shalabi, had earlier this month shot at Israeli vehicles in the West Bank village of Al Funduq, the Israeli military said. The attack killed three Israelis: a police investigator and two women from a nearby settlement.

Since the cease-fire in Gaza began this week, Israel has turned its attention to the West Bank, particularly Jenin. The Israeli military has launched at least three major operations there over the past year and a half, arresting militants, tearing up roads and leaving many Palestinian civilians hiding in their homes in fear.

Israel’s last major military operation in the West Bank — in August and September — lasted 10 days and killed 39 people, mostly in Jenin, according to Palestinian officials. But the repeated raids have seemingly failed to subdue Palestinian militants, who have accrued increasing power in recent years.

At least 10 people have been killed in the raids this week, and more than 40 others have been wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Wednesday. The official Palestinian prisoners’ commission said dozens of people had been arrested.

Mohammad Jarrar, the mayor of Jenin, said thousands had fled the neighborhood known as the Jenin camp, the focus of the Israeli operation. Those who remained were cut off from electricity and running water, he said, creating the potential for a “humanitarian disaster.”