JENIN (West Bank): Hundreds of Israeli troops backed by helicopters, drones and armoured personnel carriers raided the flashpoint cities of Jenin and Tulkarm and other areas in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, killing at least 10 Palestinians.
The assault, one of the largest seen in the West Bank for months, followed a series of smaller raids in the area over recent weeks as Israeli forces sought to crush groups of fighters from Palestinian groups.
With Israeli forces battling Hamas in the Gaza Strip and facing a serious escalation of tensions with Iranian-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, Wednesday’s operation underscored the multiple security threats Israel has been battling since the start of the Gaza war last year.
The armed wings of the Hamas and Fatah factions said in separate statements their gunmen were detonating bombs against Israeli military vehicles in Jenin, Tulkarm and Far’a, a town in the Jordan Valley.
After the initial assault, the sounds of gunfire and explosions could be heard from Jenin’s crowded refugee camp, a heavily built up township adjacent to the main urban district that has been a hotbed of group activity for years.
Palestinian health authorities said at least 10 Palestinians had been killed in different areas of the West Bank by Israeli forces during the operation.
A short distance outside Jenin, blood soaked the ground next to a damaged car and an impact crater from a drone strike the Israeli military said had killed three group members.
The Palestinian health ministry said troops had surrounded Jenin’s main hospital, blocking off access with earth mounds - a measure the military said was intended to prevent fighters seeking refuge.
A military spokesperson said Wednesday’s operation followed a sharp rise in group activity in recent months, with more than 150 attacks from Tulkarm and Jenin involving shooting or explosives over the past year. He said the military assessed that there was an “immediate threat” to civilians but that the operation was part of a broad strategy aimed at thwarting attacks.
“This terror threat in this area is not new, it hasn’t started yesterday and it’s not going to end tomorrow,” Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told a media briefing. Earlier, the military released the names of five Palestinians identified as group members who were killed in Tulkarm on Monday. Two were claimed by Hamas and three by Islamic Jihad.
As well as the major raids in Jenin and Tulkarm, two of the most volatile cities in the northern West Bank, the military said forces also raided Far’a near Tubas in the Jordan Valley, killing at least four people in a drone strike.
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