2 weeks ago
9
Israel
on Wednesday launched an extensive military
operation
in the occupied
West Bank
, where nine militants were killed with at least seven killed in aerial attacks, in the operation, the Israeli military said. The Palestinian health ministry reported 11 fatalities in the West Bank, where violence has escalated during the nearly 11-month-long Gaza war, which began with Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7.
The
United Nations
said that children were among those killed, while Hamas confirmed that three members of its armed wing in the Jenin refugee camp were among the casualties.
Israel conducted coordinated raids across four northern West Bank cities including Jenin, Nablus, Tubas, and Tulkarem. Armored columns entered refugee camps in Tulkarem, Tubas, and Jenin.
According to the Red Crescent, the Palestinian health authority reported that Israeli forces killed 11 people and injured 24 during the raids. Younes al-Khatib, the organization's West Bank chief, said that ambulances were targeted by Israeli fire, and "one of our staffers was hit," news agency AFP reported.
The spokesman for UN Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres
, Stephane Dujarric said that the Israeli operations occurred "in close proximity to four hospitals", with at least some of them being "surrounded", impacting the movement of medical teams. Guterres "calls for an immediate cessation of these operations," as stated in a later statement from his office.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia to return home to "follow up on the latest developments", Palestinian official media said.
Jordan's King Abdullah II, in a meeting with visiting US lawmakers, emphasized the need for a Gaza truce "to stop the cycle of violence in the region", as per a royal statement. Violence also escalated in the Gaza Strip, where the civil defense agency reported that Israeli strikes killed at least 12 people, and in Lebanon, where Israel's military claimed to have killed a "significant" Palestinian militant.
Attacked and destroyed infrastructure
In the West Bank, Tulkarem Governor Mostafa Taqataqa described the Israeli raids as "a dangerous signal and unprecedented" to AFP. According to Hakim Abu Safiyeh, a municipal worker in Tulkarem, Israeli forces "attacked the infrastructure, in particular in the city of Tulkarem and the Nur Shams camp" and "destroyed" water and sewage systems.
The army said that they were searching for roadside bombs as Israeli bulldozers removed asphalt from the streets. Red Crescent representative Ahmed Zahran said that "medical teams have been hindered since the start of the assault", with access to Nur Shams camp and hospitals being blocked.
Military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said that Wednesday's operation was not "extremely different" from their regular activities. However, Foreign Minister Israel Katz referred to it as "a war" aimed at dismantling "Iranian-Islamic terror infrastructure".
In a post on social media platform X, he urged Israeli forces to act "with the same determination (as) in Gaza, including temporary evacuation of residents," which has forced the majority of Gazans to flee their homes.
‘No one can go outside’
Salam Azaizeh, a 34-year-old woman, found herself trapped in a neighbor's home during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank city of Jenin. The Israeli forces engaged in gun battles with armed fighters and used bulldozers to search for bombs, tearing up roads in the process.
Azaizeh said, "no one can go outside," adding that "we're hearing frightening sounds," the New York times reported.
Azaizeh lives in a neighborhood commonly known as the Jenin camp, which originated as a refugee camp for
Palestinians
who were displaced from their homes in 1948 in what is now present-day Israel and were never allowed to return.
The extent of the fighting was unclear, but a local Palestinian armed group based in Jenin claimed on Telegram that it was engaging Israeli forces in two villages on the city's outskirts.
Azaizeh said she was considering temporarily relocating if the military did not withdraw soon, and said, "We want to get out of the danger zone."
'Our children are dying'
In Gaza, Doctors Without Borders reported that "nearly 650 patients have fled" the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in Deir el-Balah after receiving evacuation orders from Israeli authorities.
Following the "totally unacceptable" incident, the UN's World Food Programme announced that it would be suspending staff movements in Gaza "until further notice."
Samia Baker, a resident of the makeshift displacement camp in central Gaza's Nuseirat, referred to it as "the street of death." She said, "We have no water, the children have no food, no clothes, we have nothing. We appeal to the world to help us get out of this place. Our children are dying."
Spiral of destruction and genocide
The United States government took action on Wednesday by imposing sanctions against an Israeli settler organization that the State Department accused of perpetrating violence against Palestinians and forcibly displacing approximately 250 villagers earlier this year.
Prime Minister Netanyahu's office expressed their strong disapproval of the new sanctions, stating that he considered them with "utmost severity".
Jordan, a neighboring country to both the West Bank and Israel, urged the international community to take action to halt "the radicalism of this Israeli government". Ayman Safadi, the Foreign Minister of Jordan, said on X that "Israel's expansion of its war against Palestinians in the occupied WB is a dangerous escalation that must be stopped."
Izzat Rishq, an official from Hamas, interpreted the sanctions as a call to "expand the spiral of destruction and genocide".
Meanwhile, Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian movement allied with Hamas that maintains a significant presence in the northern West Bank, condemned what they described as an "open war" by Israel.
And, the Israeli military reported that a strike in the Syria-Lebanon border area resulted in the death of a "significant" Islamic Jihad operations officer. A Syrian war monitor confirmed that four individuals were killed in the attack.
What is West Bank?
The West Bank, a territory shaped like a kidney and situated between Israel and Jordan, has been a site of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians for many years. It is home to approximately 3 million Palestinians and 500,000 settlers.
The West Bank emerged as a distinct territory following the 1948 war that led to the creation of Israel. During this conflict, a large number of Palestinians were displaced from their homes and sought refuge in the West Bank, which was subsequently occupied and annexed by Jordan, the New York Times reported.
In 1967, Israel gained control of the West Bank and other territories during a war with neighboring Arab countries. For religious Jews, the West Bank's ancient sites and rolling hills were considered the heart of their divinely promised homeland.
Over time, a two-tier system developed in the West Bank. Israeli citizens living there enjoy the same rights and privileges as their compatriots within Israel's internationally recognized boundaries, including the right to vote in Israeli elections. In contrast, their Palestinian neighbors are subject to Israeli military rule and have never had the right to vote for the Israeli government, despite its decisions significantly impacting their daily lives.
According to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, the October 7 attack by Hamas resulted in 1,199 deaths, primarily civilians, and additionally, Palestinian militants captured 251 individuals during the attack, with 103 still being held in Gaza, including 33 that the military believes to be deceased,
The health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory of Gaza reported that Israel's retaliatory military campaign has claimed the lives of at least 40,534 people.
The UN Human Rights Office expressed concern that Israel's raids could worsen the already dire situation in the West Bank. According to UN figures and official statements, since October 7, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 637 Palestinians in the West Bank, while Palestinian attacks have claimed the lives of at least 19 Israelis. The UN rights office said that the majority of the casualties are women and children.
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