Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday praised Israeli forces for the rare drone attack that eliminated a terror cell in the West Bank city of Jenin on Wednesday evening.  

"We are always using the element of surprise. We are constantly changing the equation against the terrorists. We did so during the last operation in Gaza. We did so again in Jenin yesterday,” the prime minister said in a statement. 

The drone attack was carried out by the IDF based on the intelligence received by the Shin Bet domestic security service. It targeted a car with three terrorists who had recently carried out several shooting attacks in the West Bank.

Two of them were operatives of the Jenin Battalion of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad while the third one was a member of the Fatah’s Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. According to the IDF spokesperson, it was the first targeted air attack carried out by Israeli forces in the West Bank since 2006. 

“The cell that was eliminated, was eliminated by a UAV. This cell had carried out several terrorist attacks and was about to carry out another one but we closed accounts with it,” Netanyahu underlined. 

“I would like to commend the IDF Intelligence Branch and the ISA for the precise intelligence, and the IDF for the precise operation. We will continue to act with initiative, innovation, and surprise – and we will triumph," he concluded.