Israel Launches Deadly West Bank Operation
Sumaira FH Published August 28, 2024 | 07:36 PM
The Israeli army targeted four cities in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, launching a major new operation alongside its 10-month-old war in Gaza
Nablus, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Aug, 2024) The Israeli army targeted four cities in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, launching a major new operation alongside its 10-month-old war in Gaza.
Violence has surged in the West Bank during the Gaza conflict sparked by Islamist group Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel.
The war has killed more than 40,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
It has also caused widespread destruction in the Palestinian territory, displaced nearly all of its 2.4 million people at least once and triggered a humanitarian crisis.
In the West Bank in the early hours of Wednesday, the Israeli military launched a series of coordinated raids across four cities -- Jenin, Nablus, Tubas and Tulkarem.
The army said it was carrying out a "counter-terrorism operation".
The operation, which involved air strikes, ground forces and bulldozers, claimed the lives of at least 10 people, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
They included two Palestinians killed in Jenin, four in a strike on a car in a nearby village and four more in a refugee camp near Tubas, said its spokesman, Ahmed Jibril.
Fifteen others were wounded, he said.
The Israeli army said it had killed nine Palestinian "terrorists" in its ongoing operation.
- 'Iranian-Islamic terror infrastructure' -
Foreign Minster Israel Katz said the military was "operating in full force since last night" in a bid to "dismantle Iranian-Islamic terror infrastructure".
In a post on X, he accused Iran, Israel's main foe in the region, of seeking to "establish an eastern front against Israel" based on the "model" for Gaza and Lebanon, where it backs Hamas and Hezbollah, respectively.
"We must address this threat with the same determination used against terror infrastructures in Gaza, including temporary evacuation of residents and any necessary measures," he said.
"This is a war, and we must win it."
But while Israeli military operations have become a daily occurrence in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, it is rare for them to be carried out in multiple cities simultaneously.
In recent weeks, Israeli operations in the West Bank have focused on the north of the territory, where armed groups fighting against Israel are particularly active.
- 'Open war' -
The latest operation comes two days after Israel said it carried out an air strike on the West Bank that the Palestinian Authority reported killed five people.
The Israeli army confirmed the five deaths on Wednesday and said the strike hit a structure "used by the terrorists to conduct terrorist activity and harm (Israeli) soldiers operating in the area".
It identified one of the dead as Jibril Jasan Ismail Jibril, who was released in November as part of the only Gaza truce so far, in November.
Last week, the army announced it had killed a senior Palestinian militant in Lebanon, accusing him of "directing attacks and smuggling weapons" to the West Bank and collaborating with Iranian forces.
Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian Islamist movement allied with Hamas which has a strong presence in the north of the West Bank, issued a statement early Wednesday denouncing an "open war" by Israel.
"With this aggression, which aims to transfer the weight of the conflict to the occupied West Bank, the occupier wants to impose a new state of affairs on the ground to annex the West Bank," the statement said.
Hamas, whose popularity has soared in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, late Tuesday reiterated its call for Palestinians in the territory to "rise up".
Its statement came in response to comments by far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who said this week he would build a synagogue at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound if he could.
Ben Gvir, a settler himself, has openly called for the annexation of the West Bank.
Hamas's October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel's retaliatory military campaign since then has killed at least 40,534 people in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.
A source with knowledge of Gaza ceasefire talks said on Wednesday that an Israeli delegation arrived in Doha for "technical-level" discussions with mediators on a truce and hostage-prisoner exchange.
burs-dv/kir
X
Related Topics
Recent Stories
PSX reaches record high as bullish trend continues
Currency Rate In Pakistan - Dollar, Euro, Pound, Riyal Rates On 9 October 2024
Today Gold Rate in Pakistan 09 October 2024
Reportage Empire Properties unveils plans for $300m investment in Pakistani Real ..
Duo wins Physics Nobel for 'foundational' AI breakthroughs
NDF represents Pakistan at IUCN Leaders Forum 2024 in Geneva
Five Russian climbers die on Nepal's Dhaulagiri peak: official
13-year-old in Belgrade school killings testifies at parents' trial
Stay and 'you are going to die': Florida braces for next hurricane
Kenya's deputy president faces impeachment vote
Consul General of Germany calls on Balochistan Governor
PTI playing tactics to halt development works: Talal
More Stories From World
-
Chinese stocks tumble on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
5 minutes ago -
Mozambique votes on new president in tense election
5 minutes ago -
Shanghai stocks close more than 6% lower
15 minutes ago -
Pyongyang to 'permanently' shut border with South Korea
24 minutes ago -
Biden begs Florida residents to flee as Milton returns to Category 5
25 minutes ago -
Boeing suspends negotiations with striking workers
34 minutes ago
-
SE Asian summit seeks progress on Myanmar civil war
34 minutes ago -
Former Ghana coach Appiah plots AFCON downfall of Black Stars
35 minutes ago -
Football: Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixtures
35 minutes ago -
Padres edge Dodgers, Mets on the brink
35 minutes ago -
Mexico president rules out new 'war on drugs'
35 minutes ago -
UN aid workers fear same 'spiral of doom' in Lebanon as Gaza
35 minutes ago