JERUSALEM/GAZA - The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Thursday night that Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi, head of the Hamas network in Tulkarm in the West Bank, was killed earlier in the day.

The IDF said in a statement that Oufi planned and led the attempted car-bombing attack in Ateret on Sept 2. As part of his role, he supplied weaponry to a large number of Hamas militants in the area, planning and leading a significant amount of additional attacks directed toward communities in the West Bank and places in Israel.

Oufi took part in the planning and executing of numerous attacks against Israelis in the West Bank, the statement said, adding that he operated to strengthen the Hamas network and aid additional militants in the area in the execution of significant shooting attacks and car bombings.

Alongside Oufi, multiple other significant militants who were part of the network in Tulkarm were eliminated, according to the statement. 

Israeli airstrike

At least 18 Palestinians were killed and many others wounded in an Israeli airstrike targeting the Tulkarm refugee camp in the northern West Bank on Thursday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a brief statement.

Israeli warplanes launched a raid on a cafe in the al-Hamam neighborhood in the Tulkarm camp, Palestinian security sources said. Faisal Salama, coordinator of the Palestinian factions in Tulkarm, told Xinhua that there were a large number of casualties.

The IDF said in a brief statement on Thursday that as part of a joint IDF and Israeli Security Agency operation, the Israeli Air Force conducted a strike in Tulkarm.

Rising tensions and increasing armed clashes were seen in various cities, villages, and refugee camps across the West Bank following the outbreak of the Gaza conflict last October.  

Gaza death toll

The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 41,788, the Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Thursday.

During the past 24 hours, the Israeli military killed 99 people and wounded 169 others, bringing the total death toll to 41,788 and injuries to 96,794 since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out in early October 2023, it added.

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said on the social media platform X on Thursday that in the past two days alone, three UNRWA schools were hit in Gaza and at least 21 people were reportedly killed.

"The schools were home for more than 20,000 displaced people. Some schools were hit more than once since the war began," Lazzarini said, noting that more than 140 UNRWA schools have come under attack since Oct 7, 2023.

"Schools used to be a safe haven for learning, they have now turned into hell for far too many. Schools cannot be used for any military purposes by anyone. Schools are not a target. These are some of the basic rules of war blatantly disregarded," Lazzarini added.

Israel has been launching a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.