Israeli fighter jets bomb West Bank coffee shop, killing 18 Palestinians
Israeli forces killed 18 Palestinians on Thursday after bombing a coffee shop in the occupied West Bank using fighter jets, in the first such attack since the Second Intifada during the early 2000s.
At least one missile hit a busy cafe in the al-Hamam neighbourhood in the crowded Tulkarm refugee camp late at night as citizens gathered there, according to official Palestinian news agency Wafa. Ambulances and first responders rushed to the scene after the raid, it added.
Video from the site posted on social media showed what appeared to be a corpse suspended in the air and rubble spewed across the street with cries in the background.
A source within the Palestinian security services told AFP this was the deadliest single attack in the occupied West Bank since 2000.
“We condemn the Tulkarm camp massacre and hold the occupation government fully responsible for its repercussions,” the Palestinian Authority’s presidency office said in a statement on Thursday.
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Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movements also condemned the "massacre" calling it a "dangerous escalation".
The Israeli army confirmed the strike and said it was a joint operation carried out by the Shin Bet internal security service and the air force, according to a brief statement by the military.
Five of those killed were identified by local sources, including Zahi al-Oufi, who Israel claimed was the leader of Hamas' network in Tulkarm. There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
National and Islamic committees across the West Bank called for a general strike on Friday in protest against the attack.
The strike is a crescendo of Israel’s escalating attacks in the occupied West Bank, since 7 October 2023, after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. At least 630 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank since then.
In August, Israel launched a massive offensive in the northern West Bank targeting the cities of Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas with military helicopters and large convoys of armoured vehicles.
Major Israeli offensives in the occupied West Bank are sometimes occurring "at a scale not witnessed in the last two decades", United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said in September.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
The strike comes as Israel presses ahead with its invasion of Lebanon, bombing parts of Beirut on Thursday night and fighting with Hezbollah, and the war on Gaza by Israel rages on, with over 41,000 dead, most of them women and children.
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