As part of a big operation involving planes and drones, Israeli troops raided the flash places of Jenin and Tulkarm as well as other places in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, according to Israeli authorities. At least nine Palestinians were killed.
One of the largest assaults in the West Bank in weeks, which came after a number of smaller attacks in the area in recent months as Israeli forces attempted to oust fighters from Palestinian militant groups.
Israel’s troops are fighting Hamas fighters in Gaza and are facing a significant rise in conflicts with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah motion in southern Lebanon, which was highlighted by Wednesday’s activity.
In separate claims, the trained arms of the Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah parties claimed that their gunmen were detonating weapons against Israeli military cars in the three West Bank regions.
By afternoon, the town of Jenin was largely uninhabited, but occasionally explosions could be heard in the densely populated refugee camp, a township close to the main urban area.
A drone attack that the Israeli military claimed had killed three violent fighters had left a nearby area bloody and infected the ground next to a broken car.
The major hospital in Jenin has been surrounded by troops, according to the Palestinian health ministry, which the military claims is to prevent fighters seeking refuge.
More than 150 attacks from Tulkarm and Jenin were carried out using explosives or shotguns during the previous year, according to a military spokeswoman who said Wednesday’s operation came after a sharp increase in violent activity in recent months.
He claimed that the military considered that there was an “immediate danger” to civilians, but that the procedure was a part of a comprehensive plan to thwart attacks.
” This terror threat in this area is not new, it has n’t started yesterday and it’s not going to end tomorrow”, Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters in a briefing.
Five Palestinians who were alleged to be violent soldiers who were killed in Tulkarm on Monday were given earlier names by the defense. Hamas claimed two of its claims, and Islamic Jihad claimed three.
Anything” came down from the sky,” you ask.
The military claimed makes also carried out a big raid on the town of Far’a near Tubas in the Jordan Valley, killing at least four persons in a helicopter reach, in addition to the major attacks in Jenin and Tulkarm, two of the most tense towns in the northern West Bank.
Masoud Naaja, the father of two young people who were killed in the attack, claimed to be giving water to some of the people who had asked for a drink while he was hurt.
” In hours, very quickly, we felt like someone came down on us from the horizon and there was an explosion”, he said. ” When I put my hand on my chest, it was full of debris and body”.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas warfare in Gaza, there have been significant upsurges in the West Bank. Israel, which says Iran has provided weapons and assistance to the violent groups, has stepped up operations, while Israeli settlers have even launched numerous vigilante-style attacks on Israeli communities.
Since the war in Gaza began nearly 11 months ago, dozens of Palestinians have been detained in raids, and more than 660- fighters and civilians- have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian Health Ministry figures.
According to Israeli tally records, at least 30 Israelis have been killed in the past two attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
The latest round of Israeli-Palestinian violence began on October 7 after Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel, killing 1, 200 and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s Gaza campaign has since levelled swathes of the enclave, displaced nearly all its 2.3 million people multiple times, given rise to deadly hunger and disease and killed more than 40, 500 people, Palestinian health officials say.
Hamas and Israel continue to blame each other for the lack of progress in international mediated talks to end the conflict, and the United States is optimistic that a ceasefire can be reached.
