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Israel kills Hamas-allied Islamic Jihad commander as death toll climbs in major West Bank operation
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday that troops had killed five more militants in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including a senior commander of a Hamas-allied group, as eyewitnesses said the IDF operation there continued. Israel launched its largest West Bank military operation in years overnight on Wednesday, and says it has killed a total of 14 militants since then.
The Hamas-allied Islamic Jihad group issued a statement Thursday confirming the death of its commander in the West Bank’s Tulkarem area, saying Mohammed Jaber, also known as Abu Shujaa, died during a “confrontation with the occupation soldiers” in the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem.
The group said his killing would increase “our people’s steadfastness, resilience, and determination to continue,” as Hamas warned in its own statement that his death and others in the West Bank would “explode the volcano of anger in the West Bank.”
JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP/Getty
As it mourned Jaber, Hamas said 10 of its fighters had been killed across different West Bank locations in the Israeli raids. Palestinian health authorities, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians, said at least 12 people had been killed, according to the Reuters news agency. The United Nations said Wednesday that children were among those killed.
Violence has increased in the West Bank since on Israel from its longtime stronghold in the other Palestinian Territory, the Gaza Strip, killing some 1,200 people and taking about 250 others hostage.
The war launched immediately by Israel against Hamas in response to that attack has killed more than 40,000 people in Gaza, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave.
Palestinians have told CBS News they fear the raids are part of an Israeli campaign to bring the destruction seen for more than 10 months in Gaza to the occupied West Bank.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says more than 630 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October, including around 136 killed and 41 injured in Israeli airstrikes.
In the three years prior to October, OCHA said only six Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes in the West Bank, all during 2023.
At least 15 Israelis, including nine military personnel and five settlers, have been killed by Palestinians in the West Bank since October, while attacks by Palestinians launched from the West Bank have resulted in the killing of 10 Israelis, as well as seven Palestinians involved in the attacks, the United Nations said.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke out against the Israeli operation on Thursday.
“I strongly condemn the loss of lives, including of children, and I call for an immediate cessation of these operations,” Guterres said in a statement on social media. “Only an end to the occupation and a return to a meaningful political process that will establish a two-state solution will bring an end to the violence.”
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A picture is emerging of the suspect who officials say pointed a high-powered rifle at former president Donald Trump on a Florida golf course Sunday afternoon.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was armed with an AK-47-style rifle and was 300-500 yards away from Trump when members of the former president’s Secret Service detail spotted him, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw. Routh was a few holes ahead of where the president was golfing at the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, officials said.
Members of the Secret Service detail opened fire at Routh, according to law enforcement officials. It’s not clear if Routh fired any shots. Bradshaw said a witness saw a man jumping out of the bushes and fleeing in a black Nissan. The car was pulled over and the driver detained and identified as the suspect. Law enforcement found the rifle, a scope, two backpacks with ceramic tile and a GoPro camera in the bushes at the scene.
The FBI and U.S. Secret Service are investigating the incident, which the FBI said “appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump.”
As the investigation continues, here’s what we know about Routh:
Stephany Matat / AP
A decades-long criminal history
Routh’s most recent address is listed in Hawaii, but he spent most of his life in North Carolina, according to property records. Routh owned Camp Box Honolulu, a shed-building company, according to his LinkedIn profile. The account also says that he studied at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and graduated in 1998.
Records show his problems with the law go back to the 1990s and include less serious charges, like writing bad checks. But in 2002, he was charged with a felony — possession of a weapon of mass destruction — according to North Carolina Department of Corrections records.
Between 2002 and 2010, Routh was also charged with a number of misdemeanors, including a hit-and-run accident, resisting arrest and a concealed weapons violation, records show.
Suspect criticized Trump online
Routh voted Democratic in the 2024 primary election in North Carolina, and he voted in person, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections. He appears to be registered as an unaffiliated voter.
His X account, which has now been suspended, included a number of posts about Trump.
“@realDonaldTrump While you were my choice in 2106, I and the world hoped that president Trump would be different and better than the candidate, but we all were greatly disappointment and it seems you are getting worse and devolving,” he wrote in a June 2020 post. “I will be glad when you gone.”
He also referenced the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump in multiple posts, suggesting that President Biden and Vice President Harris should visit the injured and attend the funeral of the Pennsylvania rally-goer who was killed.
A Facebook account under Routh’s name was no longer online on Sunday evening.
Ukraine supporter
Routh was passionate about fighting for Ukraine, even traveling overseas to fight in the country’s war against Russia in 2022.
“I am coming to Ukraine from Hawaii to fight for your kids and families and democracy.. I will come and die for you,” he wrote on X.
In one post on LinkedIn, he shared a photo of himself in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.
A CBS News review of Routh’s social media shows his pro-Ukraine views seeped into his public statements as well. He urged people, even those who didn’t have military skills, to take up arms for Ukraine. He was interviewed by several news organizations, including The New York Times and Semafor in 2023, and Newsweek Romania in 2022. He was quoted about his efforts to recruit volunteer fighters to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion, though it wasn’t clear whether he had succeeded.
“This is about good versus evil,” he told Newsweek Romania.
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