Photo: Jaafar Ashtiyeh Agence France-Presse Israeli soldiers deploy Wednesday in the Nour Shams refugee camp, near Tulkarem, in the occupied West Bank.
Published at 6:23 AM Updated at 7:56 AM
Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the northern occupied West Bank on Wednesday, where the army said it had “eliminated” nine Palestinian fighters on the sidelines of the war that has been going on in Gaza for nearly eleven months.
Israeli forces “eliminated nine armed terrorists” in Jenin, Tubas and Tulkarm, including seven in airstrikes, the army said in a statement. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported “10 dead and 15 wounded” in the attacks.
In Gaza, Israeli bombardments from the air, sea and ground have been uninterrupted since Hamas' deadly attack on Israel on October 7. But in the West Bank, coordinated operations of ground troops supported by aircraft operating in several cities at the same time are rare.
An Israeli army spokesman, however, downplayed the significance of the operation, saying it was not “extremely different [from the ordinary] or special.”
According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, interrupted an official visit to Saudi Arabia to return “to follow developments in the Israeli aggression in the northern West Bank.”
During the night, columns of Israeli armored vehicles entered two refugee camps, in Tulkarem and Tubas, as well as the city of Jenin.
By midday, they were locking the entrances to the cities and camps, AFP photographers noted, with soldiers firing at regular intervals on the camps from which the sounds of gunfire and explosions could be heard.
In the streets, Israeli bulldozers were destroying the roadway, with the army claiming to be digging up roadside bombs.
Israeli incursions into Palestinian autonomous areas are a daily occurrence in the West Bank, even though, under the (moribund) Israeli-Palestinian Oslo peace accords, the Israeli army is not supposed to enter these areas, which are under the exclusive control of the Palestinian Authority’s Preventive Security.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, triggered by the bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement in Israel on October 7, violence in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, has intensified markedly.
More than 600 Palestinians have been killed there by the Israeli army or Jewish settlers, according to official Palestinian data, and at least 20 Israelis, including soldiers, have died in Palestinian attacks or during army operations in the Palestinian autonomous zone, according to official Israeli data.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000Photo: Ronaldo Schemidt Agence France-Presse Israeli soldiers walk through the Al-Faraa camp, near Toubas, in the occupied West Bank.
In recent weeks, Israeli operations in the West Bank have focused on the north of the territory, where armed groups fighting against Israel have been particularly active since well before the start of the Gaza war.
The army wants to “dismantle the Iranian-Islamist terrorist infrastructure” in the West Bank, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on X, calling for action in the West Bank “with the same determination […] as in Gaza, with temporary evacuations of Palestinians.”
“This is a war, and we must win it,” he added.
He accused the Islamic Republic of Iran of wanting to “establish a terrorist front” in the West Bank, “on the model of Gaza and Lebanon,” where Hezbollah, a major ally of Tehran, has been firing rockets at Israel almost daily since October 8.
The Israeli army announced that it had “eliminated” five Palestinian fighters in an air raid on Nour Chams refugee camp in Tulkarem.
One of them, Jibril Jibril, “involved in terrorist activities […] was released in November as part of the agreement” to exchange hostages kidnapped on October 7 and taken to Gaza for Palestinian prisoners incarcerated by Israel, the army said. According to Wafa, two of the five deaths on Monday were minors.
Islamic Jihad, Islamist movement Palestinian ally of Hamas, denounced an “open war by the Israeli occupier.”
“With this aggression which aims to transfer the weight of the conflict to the occupied West Bank, the occupier wants to impose a new state of affairs on the ground to annex the West Bank,” he accused.
For its part, Hamas, whose popularity has soared in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, while that of Fatah, Mr. Abbas' party, has fallen, again urged the three million Palestinians in the West Bank on Tuesday evening to “rise up” against the Israeli occupation.
In the Gaza Strip, the Civil Defense reported at least 12 dead, including at least one child and one woman, in new Israeli strikes on the center and south.
Families in distress continue to move according to the evacuation orders from the Israeli army, which are multiplying. One of the latest concerns the area around the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, from which “nearly 650 patients have fled,” reported Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) on Wednesday.
The mediating countries between Israel and Hamas, Qatar, Egypt and the United States, are trying to secure a ceasefire that includes the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
After a recent round of negotiations in Cairo, an Israeli delegation arrived in Doha on Wednesday for “technical level” discussions with the mediators, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
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