According to Israeli sources, at least 12 of the 18 people killed in an airstrike on the West Bank were said to have been Palestinian extremists.
Ten of them belonged to Hamas and two to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Israeli military said on Saturday. Initially, the military had reported at least seven extremists killed.
Hamas claimed that eight of the men killed were members of their group. The PIJ named one person as its member. The armed wing of the Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank also stated that one man was their member.
Among the casualties were civilians, including two children aged 7 and 8.
The attack on a residential building with a café on the ground floor in Tulkarem on Thursday evening resulted in 18 deaths, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The Foreign Office in Berlin described the high number of civilian casualties as “shocking,” saying that in the fight against terrorism, the Israeli army is obliged to protect civilians in the West Bank.
Israeli military sources stated that all the killed militants were involved in the production of explosives. They said the militants also supported “terrorist activities against Israeli civilians.”
The military had already announced that the head of Hamas in Tulkarem was also killed in the attack.
