Israel mounts major military operation in the West Bank
By Ali Sawafta
Jenin, West Bank: At least 10 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday, Palestinian authorities said, as Israeli forces raided the flashpoint cities of Jenin and Tulkarm as well as other areas in the occupied West Bank in a major operation involving helicopters and drones.
The ongoing operation was among the largest in the West Bank in months, and a reminder that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict extends far beyond the war in Gaza that began with Hamas’ October 7 attack. Israel says it is rooting out West Bank militants to prevent attacks, while Palestinians fear it intends to broaden the war and expel them from territories they want for a future state.
Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said “large forces” had entered Jenin, long a militant stronghold, as well as Tulkarem and the Al-Faraa refugee camp dating to the 1948 Middle East War, all in the northern West Bank.
He said Israeli forces killed three militants in an airstrike in Tulkarem and four in an airstrike in Al-Faraa. He said another five suspected militants were arrested, and that the raids were the first stage of an even larger operation. Four Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in Jenin, according to Palestinian officials.
Hamas announced that 10 of its fighters had been killed in the West Bank on Wednesday, including three of the four men killed in Jenin. It was not immediately clear if the fourth was also a fighter. The Israeli military said all of the dead were militants.
The governor of Jenin, Kamal Abu al-Rub, said on Palestinian radio that Israeli forces had surrounded the city, blocking exit and entry points and access to hospitals, and ripping up infrastructure in the camp.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank said Israeli forces had blocked the roads leading to a hospital with dirt barriers and surrounded other medical facilities in Jenin. Shoshani said the military was trying to prevent militants from taking shelter in hospitals.
Israeli forces patrol a street during a military operation in the West Bank refugee camp of Al-Faraa.Credit: AP
With Israeli forces battling Hamas fighters in Gaza and facing a major escalation of tensions with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in southern Lebanon, the operation underscored the multiple security threats Israel has been battling since the start of the Gaza war last year.
A military spokesperson said Wednesday’s operation followed a sharp rise in militant activity in recent months, with more than 150 attacks involving shooting or explosives from Tulkarm and Jenin in the past year.
He said the military assessed there was an “immediate threat” to civilians, but he said the operation was part of a broad strategy aimed at thwarting attacks.
The armed wings of the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah factions said in separate statements their gunmen were detonating bombs against Israeli military vehicles in the three West Bank areas.
By midday, the city of Jenin was relatively quiet but in the crowded refugee camp, a heavily built up township adjacent to the main urban area, occasional explosions could be heard.
A short distance outside the city, blood soaked the ground next to a damaged car and an impact crater from a drone strike the Israeli military said had killed three militant fighters.
“This terror threat in this area is not new, it hasn’t started yesterday and it’s not going to end tomorrow,” Shoshani told reporters.
Earlier, the military released the names of five Palestinians identified as militant fighters who were killed in Tulkarm on Monday. Two were claimed by Hamas and three by Islamic Jihad.
‘Something came down from the sky’
As well as the major raids in Jenin and Tulkarm, two of the most volatile cities in the northern West Bank, the military said forces also raided the town of Far’a near Tubas in the Jordan Valley, killing at least four people in a drone strike.
Masoud Naaja, the father of two young men killed in the strike, said he was giving water to some men who asked for a drink when he was wounded.
A bulldozer from the Israeli forces moves on a street during a military operation in the West Bank refugee camp of Al-Faraa.Credit: AP
“In seconds, very fast, we felt like something came down on us from the sky and there was an explosion,” he said. “When I put my hand on my chest, it was full of shrapnel and blood.”
Clashes in the West Bank have risen sharply since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Israel, which says Iran has provided weapons and support to the militant factions, has stepped up operations, while Jewish settlers have also launched frequent vigilante-style attacks on Palestinian communities.
Thousands of Palestinians have been arrested in raids and more than 660 – fighters and civilians – have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the war in Gaza began nearly 11 months ago, according to Palestinian Health Ministry figures.
At least 30 Israelis have been killed in attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank during the period, according to Israeli tallies.
The latest round of Israeli-Palestinian violence began on October 7 after Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel, killing 1200 and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s Gaza campaign has since levelled swathes of the enclave, displaced nearly all its 2.3 million people multiple times, given rise to deadly hunger and disease and killed more than 40,500 people, Palestinian health officials say.
Internationally mediated talks to end the conflict continue, with Hamas and Israel trading blame for a lack of progress, and the United States expressing optimism that a ceasefire can be reached.
Reuters, AP
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