Israel launches new operation in West Bank, at least 9 killed.
At least nine Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials, have been killed by Israeli forces in the north of the occupied West Bank. The true figure could be higher, as Palestinian officials earlier quoted at least 11 people killed since midnight local time when the Israeli operation began. Israeli security forces said they were carrying out “a counterterrorism operation to thwart terror” in Jenin and Tulkarm. This seems to be a big Israeli operation, with at least four Palestinian cities being targeted simultaneously: Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus, and Tubas.
This is believed to be the first time since the Second Intifada-the major uprising of Palestinians between 2000 and 2005-several Palestinian cities were targeted this way.
Palestinian sources say that the main roads leading to Jenin have been sealed off, with armed clashes in the city’s refugee camp.
An Israeli air strike reportedly hit a vehicle in a nearby village at first light. In Jenin, Israeli forces reportedly entered one hospital and sealed off two others in the nearby town of Tulkarm. Israeli military incursions into Nablus are said to be concentrated on two refugee camps in the city.
In Far’a camp near Tubas, medics say ambulances are unable to reach the casualties following an Israeli drone strike. Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that the Israeli Defense Forces – IDF – have been “operating with full force since last night in the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps to dismantle Iranian-Islamic terror infrastructures established there.”
He further accused Iran, which supports the armed groups of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, of seeking to open what he termed a new front against Israel in the West Bank. “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 are required,” he added.
The Israeli military has given few details but said in a statement that IDF, internal security agency Shin Bet and Israel Border Police forces were “currently conducting a counterterrorism operation to thwart terror in Jenin and Tulkarm”.
