Palestinian gunmen opened fire on IDF forces conducting a counterterrorism operation in the Jenin and Ramallah areas in the early hours of Sunday morning, the military said in a statement.
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The IDF said at least four terrorists were killed in what was described as a heavy exchange of fire in five different incidents across the West Bank. The military confirmed that two soldiers with the Duvdevan counterterrorism unit, which specializes in undercover urban warfare, were seriously wounded.
Both have been rushed to the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. The hospital said the two "suffered complex injuries" but stressed that their condition was not life-threatening.
The troops were pursuing members of a Hamas cell that has been under surveillance for several days prior to the raids taking place.
Available details suggest that the first skirmish took place in the village of Burqin, near Jenin – a known terrorist hub in the West Bank. Israeli troops were conducting a raid, seeking to arrest a suspected terrorist when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on them.
Palestinian reports said the troops surrounded a building in Burqin when they came under fire but were able to arrest the suspect nonetheless. Another terrorists was killed in the clash.
IDF forces on a mission in the village of Beit Anan, northwest of Ramallah, came under fire as well but managed to make arrests despite the assault.
Another terrorist was apprehended in a raid in Kafr Dan, north of Jenin, without incident. Three other terrorists were killed in a clash near Mount Hadar.
Asked whether the incidents could provoke rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ran Kochav said, "When it comes to Hamas we always expect rocket fire. I think it's a possibility this time as well because the gunman killed were Hamas operatives."
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that IDF troops "acted in Judea and Samaria overnight against terrorists who were planning an imminent attack. The soldiers and commanders acted as we expected them to and have our full backing."
Hamas was quick to accuse Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of contributing the IDF raids in the West Bank.
"The death of the shahids [martyrs] is a product of the ongoing security coordination with the Zionist occupation and the price of normalization meetings held by PA leaders with Zionist ministers and MKs in Ramallah in recent days, which encouraged the occupaition to again hunt and kill the young revolutionaries," the terrorist group said in a statement.
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