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29-08-2024
JERUSALEM/ WEST BANK: At least nine Palestinians have been killed in a major operation by Israeli forces in the north of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry says.
Israeli security forces said they had begun “a counterterrorism operation” in Jenin and Tulkarm overnight and they had so far killed “five armed terrorists from the air and ground”.
It also said another four were killed in an air strike during a simultaneous operation in al-Faraa refuee camp near Tubas.
Local journalists said they had not seen anything of this scope and scale in the West Bank since the days of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, two decades ago.
There has been a spike in violence in the West Bank since Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on 7 October and the ensuing war in Gaza.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed as Israeli forces have intensified their raids, saying they are trying to stem deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and Israel.
Israeli media reported that hundreds of Israeli forces were active in four different cities at least in the north of the West Bank, Jenin, Tulkarm, Tubas and Nablus.
The Palestinian health ministry in the West Bank said on Wednesday morning the bodies of seven people had been brought to Tubas governmental hospital and that two others had arrived at Jenin governmental hospital.
A Palestinian Red Crescent spokesman said at least 10 people had been killed across the West Bank two in Jenin, four in a strike on a car in a nearby village, and four others in al-Faraa refugee camp, near Tubas.
However, the true figure could be higher, with the governor of Jenin earlier saying that at least 11 people had been killed and Palestinian ambulance crews saying they were being prevented from reaching casualties.
In Jenin, a regular flashpoint troops blocked all but one of the entrances to the city and set up checkpoints.
The health ministry said Israeli forces had also surrounded Jenin government hospital and the nearby Ibn Sina hospital, as well as the headquarters of the Palestinian Red Crescent and the Friends of the Patients society.
It warned that they were threatening to storm the hospitals and that doing so would threaten the lives of dozens of patients inside as well as medical staff.
“At this moment, there are patients that are leaving the hospital but after the IDF check their IDs,” a local journalist inside the government hospital told media. “It’s a scary situation.”
The health ministry also accused them of obstructing the work of ambulances, which it said was a violation of international law.
The troops have also been searching Jenin refugee camp, which is a base for armed groups and has been the scene of many fierce gun-battles in the past.
A resident of the camp told media that he could hear explosions nearby and the buzzing of drones overhead, but that there was currently no sign of armed fighters taking on Israeli forces. He said Israeli armored bulldozers had destroyed the main street through the camp and piled rubble at the entrance to block access.
“In the area of Jenin, three armed terrorists who posed a threat to the security forces were eliminated in an aerial strike,” said a joint statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Shin Bet domestic security agency, and Israel Border Police.
“Furthermore, in the areas of Jenin and Tulkarm, the forces eliminated two additional armed terrorists, apprehended wanted suspects, and located and confiscated weapons including M-16s, ammunition, and additional military equipment.” (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
