Israel killed a top leader of the militant group Islamic Jihad in a fierce gun battle Monday in the West Bank town of Tulkarm. Loai Assadi was the mastermind of suicide bombings that had killed 10 Israelis this year according to Israel sources.
Despite the informal ceasefire between Palestinian terror groups and Israel, Israel has reserved the right to kill 'ticking time bombs' who were planning additional attacks on Israel. Israeli officials say that Assadi fit that profile.
Islamic Jihad vowed 'blood for blood' and threatened additional attacks on Israel.
Israel Defense Forces targeted Assadi and another Islamic Jihad terrorist leader. When the heated gun battle was over, the house where Assadi's body was found was spattered with blood.
Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat was critical of the Israeli action, saying, 'We condemn the Israeli incursion and assassinations in Tulkarm. This threatens the ceasefire we're trying to maintain.'
Islamic Jihad is considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the U.S. State Department.
Assadi was behind two suicide bombings this year, one that killed five people at an Israeli shopping mall in the coastal city of Netanya in July and another that killed five Israelis outside a Tel Aviv nightclub in February according to Israeli officials.
Israeli Army Colonel Aharon Haliva, commander of the force that entered Tulkarm, told Reuters, 'In a race against time to stop attacks on Israelis, we went to arrest two senior operatives'.
When the building Assadi was in was surrounded and he refused to surrender, the gun battle ensued. Israeli forces say they only fired at Assadi after shots were fired at them.
