The Israel Defense Forces, IDF, announced Monday that it conducted a drone strike in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, killing Ihab Abu Atwi, the local head of Hamas, as part of its expanded military operation in the area.

An Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinian militants in the city of Tulkarm on Monday (Jan 27), Hamas said, underscoring Israel's renewed focus on armed groups in the occupied West Bank since the start of the ceasefire in Gaza.

In the days since a fragile ceasefire took hold in the Gaza Strip, Israel has launched a major military operation in the occupied West Bank and suspected Jewish settlers have rampaged through two Palestinian towns.

The Israeli military and Hamas said Monday that an air strike killed two fighters from the Palestinian Islamist movement in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem.

The announcement came shortly after President Trump rescinded Biden-era sanctions on Israeli settlers and Jewish extremists raided Palestinian villages in protest against the cease-fire in Gaza.

Palestinian health workers say an Israeli strike on a built-up refugee camp in the occupied West Bank has killed two people as a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip entered a third day.

The sudden expansion of Israeli security operations in the West Bank has killed at least 10 people and follows the start of the delicate ceasefire process in Gaza, by which Israeli hostages are released in stages and will also see the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces.