To further root out Islamic militants to help prevent attacks on its citizens, the Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the West Bank on Wednesday where IDF forces sealed off the volatile city of Jenin.
This from newsmax.com.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said:
[L]arge forces had entered the volatile city of Jenin, which has long been a militant stronghold, as well as Tulkarem and the Al-Faraa refugee camp dating back to the 1948 Mideast war, all in the northern West Bank.
Further:
Nine militants were killed, including three killed in an airstrike in Tulkarem and another four in an airstrike in Al-Faraa. And another five suspected militants were arrested. [T]he raids were the first stage of an even larger operation aimed at preventing attacks on Israelis.
The governor of Jenin, Kamal Abu al-Rub, said on Palestinian radio:
Israeli forces had surrounded the city, blocking exit and entry points and access to hospitals, and ripping up infrastructure in the camp.
Palestinian militant groups said they were exchanging fire with Israeli troops.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank said:
Israeli forces had blocked the roads leading to a hospital with dirt barriers and surrounded other medical facilities in Jenin. Lt. Col. Shoshani said the military was trying to prevent militants from taking shelter in hospitals. Shoshani said there was currently no plan to evacuate civilians.
An Associated Press reporter saw army vehicles blocking all the entrances to Al-Faraa camp. Military jeeps and bulldozers entered the camp and soldiers could be seen patrolling its alleyways by foot. Water leaked onto the damaged streets from houses where fighting had damaged tanks and pipes. Shots rang out every few minutes.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz drew comparisons with Gaza and called for similar measures in the West Bank.
He wrote X:
We must deal with the threat just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and whatever steps might be required. This is a war in every respect, and we must win it.
Hamas called on Palestinians in the West Bank to rise up, saying the raids are part of a larger plan to expand the war in Gaza and blaming the escalation on U.S. support for Israel. The militant group called on security forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which cooperate with Israel, to “join the sacred battle of our people.”
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the raids as a “serious escalation” and called on the United States to intervene. Abbas later announced that he was cutting a visit to Saudi Arabia short and returning to the West Bank, where his government is headquartered.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three for a future state.
Israel has built scores of settlements across the West Bank, which are home to over 500,000 Jewish settlers. They have Israeli citizenship, while the 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited control over population centers.
Israel has carried out near-daily raids across the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the ongoing war there.
The U.S., Qatar and Egypt have spent months trying to mediate a cease-fire between the Israelis and Hamas that would see the remaining hostages released. But the talks have repeatedly bogged down as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed “total victory” over Hamas and the militant group has demanded a lasting cease-fire and a full withdrawal by Israel from the territory.
There was no sign of a breakthrough after days of talks in Egypt, and the negotiations move to Qatar this week.
