At least ten people have been killed in an operation by the Israeli army in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) says.
The operation was reported by, among others, the news agency Reuters, The Times of Israel and Al-Jazeera.
The operation started by Israel on Wednesday is the largest in about 20 years – the last time the Israeli army hit the West Bank with such force was during the second intifada, or popular uprising.
An Israeli military source tells The Times of Israel that Israeli soldiers are carrying out an operation in the area where last weeks suicide bombing attempt in Tel Aviv was planned. The army believes that the network that planned the attack operates in the Tulkarm area.
There are casualties from the Israeli army at least in Jenin and its nearby villages Seir and Kfar Dan, in the Nur Shamsi refugee camp in Tulkarm and in the Far’a refugee camp located in Tubas. The UN human rights office OHCHR says that among the dead are 13- and 15-year-old boys.
– Three of the victims, including two boys, died while passing the house that was the target of the attack, OHCHR says in the release.
At least 20 people have been injured.
The army says it has arrested several wanted persons, seized weapons and defused roadside bombs.
Non-governmental organizations also report that the Israeli army has made it difficult for medical personnel to get to the injured as well as to hospitals.
In the Far’a camp, the Israeli army broke into the PRCS saraala and briefly detained the hospital staff. The director of the central hospital in Jenin, on the other hand, says that the army has ordered staff and patients to evacuate. The hospital has approximately 200 staff members and 150 patients.
It is believed that the operation will continue for at least days. The Israeli army has closed the roads leading to Jenin, Tubas and Tulkarm.
Israel has also ordered, among other things curfew to the eastern part of the city of Jenin. In the afternoon, the army urged those who want to leave the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm to leave within three hours.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz saysthat Israel should consider “Gaza-style” broad evacuation orders for West Bank residents.
A shadow war alongside Gaza
The Israeli army characterized the persons killed on Wednesday as “armed terrorists who posed a threat to the security forces”. However, Israel has so far not specified in what way the persons would have been connected to terrorism, or what it means by a threat to the security forces.
The armed wings of the two main extremist organizations, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, say they are fighting Israeli forces in the refugee camps of Nur Shams and Jenin.
Israeli army raids have tripled in the West Bank during the Gaza war. They have particularly targeted the northern part of the West Bank, where new Palestinian armed groups have also emerged in the refugee camps located there.
Refugee camps were established in the aftermath of the 1948 war to house hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who had to flee their homes after Israel declared itself an independent state. Today, the inhabitants of the camps are largely descendants of these refugees.
So far, there have been more than confirmed deaths on the Länsiranta 630 Palestiniansthe UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) says.
About them most has died in Israeli military operations. In addition, 19 Palestinians have been killed by settlement residents alone or together with the Israeli army. Among the dead in the raids are at least 143 children, the UN children’s organization Unicef tells.
The UN points out that several of the minors killed died while throwing stones at heavily armed soldiers. Bystanders who had no obvious connections to armed groups have also been killed.
In the same period, 27 people, including members of the Israeli security services, have died in attacks by Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank. In addition, five Israeli security forces soldiers have died in clashes with Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank.
Tensions have increased over the years
According to the July judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Israel’s continued occupation of the West Bank is illegal.
Despite this, Israel has continuously expanded its settlements in the region. The settlements have split the partially self-governing territories of the Palestinians into small and separate parts. This makes the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank practically very difficult.
In the 1990s, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel signed the Oslo Peace Accords, with which the PLO renounced armed resistance. The goal was to point the way towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Momentary hope changed over the years to dissatisfaction with unfulfilled promises. In the eyes of the Palestinians, the Palestinian administration, which currently partially leads the West Bank, is corrupt and weak. Dissatisfaction is increased by the fact that the Palestinian Authority does security cooperation with Israel, but has not been able to advance the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
In particular, the Jenin refugee camp has long been one of the focal points of smoldering armed resistance. The Israeli army has made repeated raids there even before the outbreak of the Gaza war. The camp is also one of the worst on the West Bank poverty and unemployment affected areas.
The insecurity and lack of perspective of the refugee camps have indeed provided a platform for growth for new weapon groups.