Israel’s army said on Friday it has ended its major month-long operation in the southern Gaza cities of Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, adding that it killed over 250 militants during the mission.

Tunnel routes used by the Palestinian militant group Hamas with a total length of more than 6 kilometres were destroyed during the operation and the bodies of six hostages recovered, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

Residents of some neighbourhoods in southern Gaza, who had previously been asked to flee, were allowed to return, an army spokesman said.

The neighbourhoods are now once again part of an area designated as a humanitarian safe zone. Some of those who have returned to Khan Younis have begun to search for missing relatives, the IDF said.

According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, more than 40,000 people have been killed and more than 98,000 injured in Gaza during 10 months of war.

The Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, with more than 1,200 dead, carried out by Hamas militants and other Palestinian extremist groups on October 7.

Israeli army says Hamas leader, others killed in West Bank

The Israeli army said on Friday that during a large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank, it killed the Hamas leader responsible for the city of Jenin.

“Wassem Hazem, the head of Hamas in Jenin, was eliminated during a counterterrorism operation in the northern Samaria area [the West Bank]. He was identified alongside a terrorist cell in a vehicle in the area,” the domestic intelligence service Shin Bet and the Israeli police said on the platform X.

“Hazem was involved in carrying out and directing shooting and bombing attacks, and continuously advanced terrorist activities in the Judea and Samaria area,” the post said, citing the names used by Israel to refer to the West Bank. The vehicle also contained two other Hamas members, the post said.

The forces reportedly killed them during an attack with an aircraft as they tried to flee the vehicle. Weapons and explosives were found in the car, it said.

The Ministry of Health in Ramallah confirmed three deaths.

The Israeli military said on Friday that it has killed 20 Palestinian militants in exchanges of fire and airstrikes since the launch of a large-scale military operation on Wednesday targeting areas near Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas in the occupied West Bank.

Additionally, 17 suspects linked to terrorist activities have been detained, it said. The operation also led to the destruction of dozens of explosive devices and the confiscation of numerous weapons, the IDF said.

An IDF spokesman said the operation aimed to dismantle terrorist cells linked to the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

According to Palestinian sources, civilians are believed to be among the dead, along with several members of the military wing of Hamas and other extremist groups.

The information from both Israeli and Palestinian sources could not initially be independently verified.

The situation in the West Bank has significantly deteriorated since the onset of the Gaza war, with 643 Palestinians killed in Israeli military operations, confrontations, or their own attacks, according to the health authority in Ramallah.

WHO prepares for mass polio vaccination campaign in Gaza

Preparations for the Sunday start of a mass polio vaccination campaign for children in the Gaza Strip are in full swing, after all sides agreed to a limited ceasefire.

The warring parties have made a “preliminary commitment to what we call area-specific humanitarian pauses,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

A total of 640,000 children under the age of 10 are to be immunized. Full vaccination requires two doses four weeks apart.

Almost 400 vaccination centres have been set up. In addition, almost 300 mobile teams are on the road, and some 2,200 volunteers have been trained to administer the vaccine.

The WHO aims to vaccinate more than 90% of children with the campaign. This coverage is necessary to prevent the virus from spreading.

Polio is a contagious infectious disease that can cause permanent paralysis and death, especially in young children. There is currently no cure.