Hamas war: Israeli forces kill senior terrorist operative near Tulkarm

The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) reported that Mu'azzam Ali, who was described as a senior terrorist operative, was killed Wednesday in the Nur Shams camp near Tulkarm, along with two other terrorists, while barricading himself in a house. He was suspected of shooting at Israeli forces in the past and of terrorist activities.

Ali was killed after an exchange of fire and after four hours of activity carried out by Border Police Special Forces and IDF reserve fighters from the 8105 paratrooper battalion who operated under the direction of the Shin Bet (Israel's anti-terror General Security Services).

The operation took four hours because the forces attempted to capture him alive by carrying out a "pressure cooker" procedure which is designed to deal with a situation where a wanted enemy is barricaded in a house. First the home is surrounded and measures are taken to ensure no innocent people are inside and to try and get the terrorist to surrender. If he refuses, then the home is hit with grenades and other explosives. Then large military type bulldozers hit the home from the sides.

Only after such means were taken was Ali killed.

In the operation, the fighters also killed two armed terrorists who tried to escape from the house where the wanted man was staying.