At least eight Palestinians were killed and 35 injured as Israeli security forces began a large operation on Tuesday in the northern West Bank city of Jenin and the adjoining refugee camp.
The ground manoeuvre was preceded by drone strikes on what the Israeli army described as militant positions in an operation it said would continue “as long as necessary”.
Local residents said the Israeli forces were “completely besieging” the Jenin camp and that armoured bulldozers had dug up several streets.
Israel says armed groups of militants have been operating in Jenin for years with virtual impunity and only in the last few weeks did the Palestinian Authority security forces decide to operate against them, with mixed results. The PA forces withdrew before the Israeli operation and local residents accused them of “preparing the ground” in advance of the Israeli attack.
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said the operation was an “additional step in achieving the objective we have set: bolstering security” in the West Bank.
“We are acting methodically and with determination against the Iranian axis wherever it reaches: in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and [the West Bank],” he added.
Elsewhere in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, some 50 masked Jewish settlers rampaged through a number of Palestinian villages, setting cars, shops and some homes on fire overnight Monday. A police officer who shot and seriously wounded two of the rioters was questioning and released to house arrest. His lawyer said he felt his life was in danger after the rioters sprayed him with tear gas.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, denounced the settler rampage.
“Israel’s extremist right-wing government is trying to drag the entire region into war by sowing an atmosphere of violence and tension,” he said. Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that governs Gaza, condemned the Jenin operation and called on West Bank Palestinians to escalate attacks against Israeli forces in response.
[ Spurred by Trump’s return, Jewish settlers eye full control of West BankOpens in new window ]
Three settlers were shot dead last month by a Palestinian gunman in one of the villages where the rampage took place, and the attack was seen as a revenge action by militant settlers. Jewish residents of the West Bank are also angry that hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners are returning to the West Bank after being released from Israeli prisons under the terms of the Gaza ceasefire.
Israel announced on Tuesday that displaced residents would be able to return to the northern Gaza Strip next week if Hamas upheld all the terms of the ceasefire agreement. Much of northern Gaza lies in ruins.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said it feared there were more than 10,000 bodies still buried under the rubble across the coastal enclave. Following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian population centres, emergency services reported that the remains of 50 bodies were found near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
Israel is preparing for the release of four more hostages on Saturday. The three female hostages released on Sunday, on day one of the ceasefire, are recovering well in a Tel Aviv hospital surrounded by family and friends.
US president Donald Trump said he was not confident the Gaza ceasefire would be maintained. “It’s not our war, it’s their war,” he said. “But I’m not confident.”
Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Herzi Halevi announced his resignation on Tuesday, set to take effect in March.
“The IDF under my command failed in its mission to protect Israel’s citizens,” he said, referring to the Hamas-led attack on October 7th, 2023. “The responsibility for this terrible failure stays with me every day, every hour, and will remain with me for the rest of my life.”
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