JERUSALEM, Feb 23 (Reuters) – The Israeli military said on Friday it had targeted a militant from the Islamic Jihad group in an air strike in the occupied West Bank who was on his way to carry out an attack.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA said a 17-year-old was also killed in the strike late on Thursday in the city of Jenin, with more than a dozen others injured.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted Yasser Hanoun, who had carried out several shooting attacks over the past few weeks.

Violence in the West Bank, among the territories which the Palestinians want for an independent state, was on the rise before the Gaza war and has increased since, with frequent Israeli arrest raids and often deadly clashes.

Israel began its military offensive in Gaza after militants from Hamas-ruled Gaza killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in southern Israel on Oct. 7, according to Israeli tallies.

The offensive against Hamas has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians, according to local authorities, laying waste much of the enclave to waste and displacing most of its 2.3 million population.

Israel says its goal is to eliminate Hamas, a group sworn to Israel’s destruction. (Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch, Ali Sawafta and Hatem Maher; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)