The Israeli army has launched a major operation in four cities in the West Bank during which “nine armed terrorists were eliminated.”
In the night theIdf launched coordinated attacks against Jenin, Nablus, Tubas And Tulkarem with bombings and raids by armored convoys such as, the al Quds network claims, have not been seen since the second Intifadain 2002.
Palestinian casualties and reactions
There Palestinian Red Crescent counts ten Palestinians killed overnight: two in Jenin, four in an attack on a car in a nearby village and four more in a refugee camp near the city of Tubas. About fifteen were wounded.
The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas He cut short a visit to Saudi Arabia to return to the West Bank and “follow the evolution of the Israeli aggression,” the official Palestinian agency reported. Wafa.
Escalation of Israeli military operations
Although Israeli military operations have become a daily occurrence in the West Bank, a simultaneous offensive on multiple cities is rare. In recent weeks, these operations have been concentrated mainly in the north of the territory, where militia groups are most active.
“The army has been operating with all its forces since last night in the refugee camps of Jenin and Tulkarem to dismantle the Islamist terrorist infrastructure Iranian located there,” Israel’s Foreign Minister said Wednesday Israel Katz who explicitly accused Tehran of playing a role in the daily rocket fire into Israel since the beginning of the war in Gaza.
Impact of the Israeli offensive
On Monday, the Israeli army reported shelling the refugee camp in Nour Shams in Tulkarem and thePalestinian Authority had spoken of five deaths, including Jibril Jibrila Palestinian released from an Israeli prison in November in the only truce reached so far in Gaza.
In almost a year, in the face of over 450 thousand victims Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in the West Bank were killed approximately 650 peopleby the Israeli army or settlers. On the other hand, according to official Israeli data, in the territory controlled by theAnp they died at least 20 Israelisincluding soldiers attacked by Palestinians or shot during raids against militants.
Complaints from Islamic Jihad and Hamas
There Islamic Jihad He denounced an “open war by the Israeli occupier.” “With this aggression, which seeks to shift the burden of the conflict to the West Bank, Israel wants to impose a new state on the ground and annex it,” he said.
For his part, Hamaswhose popularity has soared in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, while that of the party Fatah Abbas’s government has collapsed, last night he again urged the three million Palestinians in the West Bank to “rise up” against the occupation.
United Nations condemnation
THE’United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the “increasingly military response” of Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank. The UN agency said the recent Israeli military operation in the West Bank was conducted “in a manner that violates international law and risks further inflaming an already explosive situation.”
West Bank Violence, US Sanctions Israeli Settlers
The US has announced new sanctions against Israeli settlers in the West Bank for violence against Palestinians, urging its ally Israel to demand greater accountability. “Extremist settler violence in the West Bank causes intense human suffering, harms Israel’s security, and undermines the prospects for peace and stability in the region,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement, adding that it is “critical” for Israel to hold them accountable.