GAZA (National Times) The Israeli military said its forces killed the commander of the Tulkarem Battalion, Mohamed Jaber, and four other Palestinian fighters in a firefight in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera reports.

The military claimed the fighters were hiding in a mosque.

It alleged that Jaber, also known as Abu Shuja’a, had directed the shooting and killing of an Israeli man in Qalqilya in June.

Another 68 killed in past 24 hours as Gaza death toll hits 40,602: health ministry

The health ministry in Gaza has said that at least 40,602 people have been killed in Israel’s offensive on the beseiged enclave, now in its 11th month, AFP reports.

The toll includes 68 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to ministry figures, which also list 93,855 people as wounded in the Gaza Strip since the conflict began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.