Al-Far’a Refugee Camp (West Bank). Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the West Bank, killing at least nine Palestinians and encircling the sensitive city of Jenin, Palestinian officials said. Israel has carried out attacks on the West Bank almost every day since Hamas attacked on October 7. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli army spokesman, said that “a large number of soldiers” entered the sensitive city of Jenin, a long-time stronghold of militants. Soldiers also entered the town of Tulkarim and the al-Far’a Refugee Camp.
He said all the nine people killed were terrorists. Of these, three were killed in an airstrike in Tulkarim and four in an airstrike in al-Fara. He said five other suspected terrorists have been arrested. Palestinian terrorist groups said their clashes with Israeli forces were continuing. Jenin Governor Kamal Abu al-Rab told Palestinian radio that Israeli forces had surrounded the city, closed exit and entry points and blocked access to hospitals. The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank said Israeli forces had blocked roads leading to a hospital and laid siege to other medical centers in Jenin.
Shoshani said the army was trying to prevent terrorists from taking refuge in hospitals. Israel Foreign Minister Israel Katz called for similar measures in the West Bank, comparing it with Gaza. “We must deal with the threat in the same way we dealt with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including temporarily removing Palestinian residents and taking every necessary step. This is a war by all means and we must win it,” he said in a post on X.
Shoshani said there were no plans to evacuate civilians. Hamas called on Palestinians in the West Bank to stand up against it, saying the attacks were part of a larger plan to expand the war in Gaza and blamed US support for Israel in the war. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the attacks and urged the US to intervene, according to Palestine’s official news agency. Israeli forces have killed more than 600 Palestinians in the West Bank since the war in Gaza began more than 10 months ago, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Israel says the operation is needed to root out Hamas and other terrorist groups and prevent attacks on Israelis.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said seven people were killed in another West Bank city of Tubas early Wednesday and two in Jenin. The ministry identified those killed in Jenin as Qassim Jabarin (25) and Asim Balut (39). Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 war. The Palestinians want all three back for a future country. Israel has built hundreds of settlements in the West Bank, where more than 500,000 Jews live. They have Israeli citizenship while 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank under Israeli military rule.
