UN calls for “immediate” cessation of Israeli operations in occupied West Bank

The UN requestedé the cessation "immédiate" of the murderous operation carried out by Israel in the occupied West Bank and judged that the suffering of the inhabitants of Gaza was “going beyond beyond what any human being should bear.”

The Israeli army said it had killed seven Palestinian fighters on Thursday, on the second day of this large operation against armed groups, which has left at least 16 dead in 48 hours.

Expressing his “deep concern”, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Thursday on the social network X for its “immediate end”, condemning “firmly the loss of human life, particularly minors”.

The UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs, Ocha, warned of the continuation of “military operations near hospitals” and the “serious damage” inflicted on infrastructure, cutting off electricity and telecommunications in places.

The Israeli army launched this operation, described as “anti-terrorist”, on Wednesday by sending its columns of armoured vehicles to Jenin, Tulkarem, Toubas and their refugee camps, in the north of the occupied West Bank, where armed groups are particularly active.

People inspect damage to a mosque the day after an Israeli military operation in the Palestinian refugee camp of Fara, near Tubas, in the northern occupied West Bank, on August 29, 2024 © AFP – Zain JAAFAR

After reporting nine fighters killed, it claimed on Thursday to have killed seven others: two in Jenin and five holed up “in a mosque” in the Nour Shams camp in Tulkarm, including a commander of the Islamic Jihad, a group allied with Hamas who confirmed his death.

But according to the governor of Tulkarm, Mostafa Taqatqa, the five were killed “in a rocket attack on a house”, without fighting.

The ministry The Palestinian Health Ministry also reported 16 deaths, including, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, two teenagers aged 13 and 17, described as “terrorists” by the Israeli army.

– “Pressure on the resistance” –

An Israeli army bulldozer operates in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nour Shams during a large Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank, August 29, 2024 © AFP – Jaafar ASHTIYEH

Clashes continued Thursday afternoon in Jenin and Israeli soldiers continued to operate in Tulkarem, according to two AFP journalists.

The army, however, withdrew from the Toubas refugee camp, witnesses said.

Israel “wants to put pressure on the resistance” but each “Zionist escalation” strengthens it, Mohamed Mansour, a political leader, told AFPTV in Toubas.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, at least 45 people have been arrested since Wednesday, with the army recording ten arrests.

Israeli incursions into Palestinian autonomous areas are a daily occurrence in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. But they are rarely on such a scale.

Palestinian Red Crescent rescuers evacuate the body of a man killed during an Israeli military operation in the Nour Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on August 29, 2024 © AFP – JAAFAR ASHTIYEH

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Since the start of the war in Gaza, triggered by the unprecedented attack by Hamas in Israel on October 7, Violence in the West Bank has flared up.

The UN on Wednesday put the number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army or settlers since October 7 at at least 637. At least 19 Israelis, including soldiers, died in Palestinian attacks or army operations, according to official Israeli data.

– “All lost” –

In the Gaza Strip, still pounded by Israel and engaged in fighting, the Civil Defense announced eight deaths on Thursday in an Israeli strike on Gaza City (north). Three Palestinians died in a drone strike in Rafah (south), according to a medical source to AFP.

The Israeli army indicated that it had, over the last 24 hours, killed “dozens” of fighters, including one who had participated in the attack of October 7, according to it.

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

Displaced residents returned to some eastern sectors of this city on Thursday to find their homes destroyed.

“We have lost everything,” laments Ibrahim al-Tabaan, trying to salvage some belongings from the rubble.

“What has happened to our basic humanity ?,” Joyce Msuya, acting head of the UN humanitarian office, told the Security Council on Thursday, saying that the suffering of the residents was “beyond what any human being should bear.”

– Vaccination polio –

Most of the Palestinian territory's 2.4 million people have been displaced in nearly 11 months of war.

The only glimmer of hope: an official from the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Thursday that the Israeli authorities had agreed to a series of “humanitarian pauses” of three days each – at a rate of several hours per day – across Gaza to begin vaccinating children against polio on Sunday, after the announcement of a first confirmed case.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously indicated that it was not a “ceasefire to vaccinate against polio but the provision of certain places.”

Palestinians collect belongings in a devastated eastern sector of Deir al Balah, from which the Israeli army withdrew, on August 29, 2024 © AFP – Eyad BABA

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

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

Near the border on Thursday, families of hostages gathered on the Israeli side to broadcast messages of support for their loved ones through loudspeakers, in the hope that they would hear them.

US Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris reiterated on Thursday her support for Israel's right “to defend itself” and answered “no” to the question of whether, as president, she would suspend US arms deliveries to the country.

Yarden Gonen, sister of Israeli hostage Romi Gonen (photo), speaks at a microphone during a demonstration by the families of hostages taken to the Gaza Strip during the October 7 attack on Israeli soil by Hamas, near Kibbutz Nirim in southern Israel, on August 29, 2024 © AFP – JACK GUEZ

The Israeli retaliatory military offensive in Gaza, where Hamas seized power in 2007, has 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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