Israel launches broad operation in the West Bank as minister urges Gaza-like operation.

 

Israel's military conducted raids and airstrikes in several parts of the occupied West Bank early on Wednesday morning, killing at least nine Palestinians in an offensive it says is its most extensive in years.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed it had launched a large-scale counter-terror operation with the Israel Security Agency (ISA) in places like Jenin and Tulkarem in the north of the West Bank.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the operation was staged to "thwart Islamic-Iranian terrorist infrastructure," claiming that Teheran was working to set up an "eastern front" against Israel.

It must be treated like any other threat, like the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza-temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents, doing whatever needs to be done. This is a war for all terms and purposes, and we must win it, he wrote on social media.

The operation comes as Israel increases military operations in the West Bank, where clashes have become more frequent since Israel launched its war in Gaza, in response to an Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas.

IDF international spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said during a briefing that "a systematic strategy in Iran" of smuggling weapons and explosives into the West Bank had been detected by Israel.

"Specifically about Jenin and Tulkarm, so far during the past year, we have witnessed more than 150 shooting and explosive attacks emanating from the two areas alone," Shoshani said on Wednesday.

Israel embarks on a major operation in occupied West Bank.

The Israeli military has launched a massive counter-terror operation across northern occupied West Bank early in the morning of Wednesday. It was called a combined Israeli operation since it was constituted by a combination of drones, bulldozers, military and security forces, Israeli Border Police, and an elite unit of undercover troops. 

The Palestinian Authority foreign ministry said in a statement it had denounced "in the strongest terms the violation and crimes carried out by Israel, especially the continued war of genocide in the Gaza Strip and the targeting of the northern West Bank.".

Early indications were that it was a major, combined Israeli operation, involving drones and bulldozers, military and security forces, four battalions of the Israel Border Police and an elite undercover unit. Video obtained by CNN showed bulldozers tearing up a street in a built-up area of Tulkarem, and also moving in convoy through Jenin.

Additional footage published by Israel's military shows what it says is an attack on a militant operations room at Nur Shams, a refugee camp close to Tulkarem.

Palestinian fatalities were also reported in the towns of Tubas and Jenin according to the PRCS.

The PRCS said at least two of those killed in Jenin were as a result of Israeli military fire and three others were killed in a drone strike on a vehicle on the outskirts of Jenin. It added that one person was critically injured in the strike.

 

Medical facilities besiegedMedical facilities besieged:

The Palestinian Ministry of Health warned that the Israeli military operation has affected hospitals, with reports that Israeli forces have laid siege to a number of facilities in Jenin and obstructed the movement of ambulances.

"In a statement, the ministry said that Israeli occupation forces blocked the roads leading to Ibn Sina hospital with piles of dirt, besieged the governmental hospital in Jenin, and laid a siege to the Red Crescent Society and the Patient's Friends Society.

"Dozens of patients are currently being treated in government, private, and charitable hospitals in Jenin," the ministry said, warning that the lives of patients and medical staff are under threat.

Medica