Five dead on second day of large-scale Israeli operation in West Bank

The Israeli army said it killed five Palestinian fighters holed up in a mosque on Thursday, on the second day of a major “anti-terrorist operation” in the northern occupied West Bank, on the sidelines of the war in the Gaza Strip against the Islamist movement Hamas.

This operation, bringing the death toll since Wednesday to at least 12, has raised concerns from the UN, which warned of the risk of “worsening an already catastrophic situation” in the Palestinian territory.

On Wednesday, the Israeli army had already said it had “eliminated” nine fighters after launching columns of armored vehicles overnight on Jenin, Tulkarem, Toubas and their refugee camps, where armed groups fighting against Israel are particularly active.

For its part, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported “12 deaths” since the start of the raids.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, which defends detainees in Israeli prisons, at least 45 people have been arrested since Wednesday.

The five Palestinians killed Thursday in the Nour Chams camp in Tulkarem were “entrenched in a mosque,” according to the army. Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, confirmed the death of its “commander” in the camp on Thursday.

– Clashes continue –

Clashes were still taking place Thursday morning in Jenin, overflown by an Israeli drone, according to an AFP journalist.

The Palestinian Red Crescent announced that it had lost contact with its teams in the city. According to it, the telephone and internet networks were cut off.

Israeli soldiers were also continuing to operate in Tulkarem, according to another AFP journalist.

A Palestinian woman walks along a street damaged during an Israeli army raid in the Nour Shams camp near the city of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank on August 28, 2024 © AFP – Jaafar ASHTIYEH

Israeli incursions into Palestinian autonomous areas are a daily occurrence in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 by the Israeli army. However, it is rare for them to be carried out simultaneously in several cities, and supported by aircraft, as has been the case since Wednesday.

Under the moribund Israeli-Palestinian Oslo peace accords of 1993, the Israeli army is not supposed to enter autonomous zones placed under the exclusive control of the security forces of the Palestinian Authority.

Among Wednesday's dead were “children,” according to the UN, whose general secretariat deplored “deadly war tactics that appear to exceed international standards for maintaining order.”

Israeli army excavators dig a road during a military operation in Tulkarm, in the northern occupied West Bank, on August 29, 2024 © AFP – Jaafar ASHTIYEH

“The destruction is enormous,” Hakim Abu Safiyeh, a municipal employee in Tulkarm, told AFP.

Mostafa Taqataqa, governor of Tulkarm, told AFP that he saw the raids as “a dangerous and unprecedented signal.”

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The Israeli army has been pounding Gaza relentlessly since Hamas' deadly attack on Israel on October 7. Since then, violence in the West Bank has soared.

At least 637 Palestinians have been killed there by the Israeli army or settlers, according to the UN, and at least 19 Israelis, including soldiers, in Palestinian attacks or during army operations in the Palestinian autonomous zone, according to official Israeli data.

According to Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, the army intends to “dismantle the Iranian-Islamist terrorist infrastructure” in the West Bank. On the social network X, he called for action there “with the same determination (…) as in Gaza, with temporary evacuations of Palestinians.”

Palestinians flee an Israeli raid on the Nour Shams camp, near the city of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, on August 28, 2024 © AFP – JAAFAR ASHTIYEH

Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian movement allied with Hamas, has accused Israel of working “to annex the West Bank.”

– “Importance to the humanitarian effort” –

In the Gaza Strip, the Civil Defense announced on Thursday eight deaths in an Israeli strike on Gaza City (north). A medical source reported to AFP that three Palestinians had died in a drone strike in Rafah (south).

The Israeli army indicated for its part that it had struck, in the last 24 hours, about 40 “terrorist targets” in the Gaza Strip, where it eliminated “dozens of terrorists”. One of the fighters eliminated had participated in the massacre of October 7, according to it.

Israeli troops are also continuing their operations in Rafah, in the Khan Younis region (south) and on the outskirts of Deir al Balah (center), according to the army.

A large number of families in distress continue to move through this territory according to the evacuation orders from the Israeli army which are increasing.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Wednesday that it was suspending “until further notice” the movements of its personnel after one of its vehicles which had “received multiple authorizations from the Israeli authorities” was hit by Israeli gunfire on Tuesday, without casualties. The Israeli army said that this shooting was being examined.

Meanwhile, mediators between Israel and Hamas — Qatar, Egypt and the United States — are still trying, unsuccessfully, to secure a ceasefire in Gaza that would include the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Palestinians inspect the damage caused by a bombing on Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on August 27, 2024 © AFP – Bashar TALEB

The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to a count of AFP based on official Israeli data.

Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 103 are still being held in Gaza, including 33 declared dead by the army.

The Israeli retaliatory military offensive on the Gaza Strip, where Hamas took power in 2007, has devastated this small territory and left 40,602 dead, according to the Hamas government's health ministry for Gaza, which does not detail the number of civilians and fighters killed. According to the UN, the majority of the dead are women and minors.

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