Israel kills a top militant in West Bank

WEST BANK/GAZA — The Israeli military said it killed five more West Bank militants, including a local commander, as it pressed ahead on Thursday with its deadliest operation in the territory since the start of the conflict in Gaza.

Israel says the raids across the northern West Bank — which have killed a total of 16 people, nearly all militants, since late Tuesday — are aimed at preventing further attacks. The Palestinians see them as a widening of the conflict in Gaza.

The raids drew alarm from the United Nations and neighboring Jordan, as well as from some international leaders, who stressed the urgency of a cease-fire in Gaza.

In the West Bank, the Islamic Jihad militant group confirmed that Mohammed Jaber, known as Abu Shujaa, was killed during a raid in the city of Tulkarm. He was deemed a "hero" by many Palestinians earlier in the year when he was reported killed in an Israeli operation, only to make a surprise appearance at the funeral of other militants.

Israel said he was killed on Thursday along with four other militants in a shootout after the five had hidden inside a mosque. It said Abu Shujaa was linked to numerous attacks on Israelis, including a deadly shooting in June and was planning more.

Israel's search-and-arrest raids continued for hours on Thursday, including the city of Jenin.

On Friday, Israel announced that it killed Hamas' commander in Jenin, Wassem Hazem. According to the Israeli military, Hazem was the head of Hamas in Jenin and was involved in orchestrating shooting and bombing attacks against Israelis.

Israel's latest operation in the West Bank began earlier this week in several locations.

Hamas repeated its calls for Palestinians in the West Bank to rise up, calling the raids part of a larger plan to expand the conflict in Gaza.

In central Gaza, medics at Al-Awda Hospital said on Thursday nine Palestinians from the same family — including two women and five young children — were killed in an Israeli strike on an apartment building in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Israel did not immediately offer comment on the intended target of its attack.

Israel will pause some military operations in the enclave to allow health workers to begin administering polio vaccines to some 640,000 Palestinian children, beginning on Sunday, the UN World Health Organization, or WHO, said on Thursday.

Rare case

A case was discovered earlier this month for the first time in 25 years. After a 10-month-old girl was found to have contracted polio, partially paralyzing her left leg, the WHO announced plans for the Gaza vaccination campaign.

The vaccination campaign is due to start on Sunday, with the pauses scheduled to take place between 6 am and 3 pm, said Rik Peeperkorn, a senior official of WHO.

He said the campaign would start in central Gaza with three consecutive daily pauses in fighting, then move to southern Gaza, where there would be another three-day pause, followed by northern Gaza. Peeperkorn added there was an agreement to extend the pause in each zone to a fourth day if needed.

A second round of vaccination would be required four weeks after the first round, said Peeperkorn.

"At least 90 percent of coverage is needed during each round of the campaign in order to stop the outbreak and prevent international spread of polio," Michael Ryan, WHO deputy director-general, said.

Also in Gaza, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Israeli authorities announced that displaced people could return to specific areas in Deir al-Balah, the first time that return is officially allowed to an evacuated area.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt have spent months trying to mediate a cease-fire. But the talks have repeatedly bogged down as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed "total victory" over Hamas and the militant group has demanded a lasting cease-fire and a full withdrawal from the territory.

Agencies - Xinhua