9 Palestinians killed in large-scale Israeli military operation in West Bank

Ramallah: Nine Palestinians were killed during a large-scale Israeli military operation in northern West Bank, according to Palestinian and Israeli sources.

Palestinian security sources said on Wednesday that the operation targeted the West Bank cities of Jenin, Tubas, and Tulkarm, as well as their camps, destructing local infrastructure.

The operation is being carried out by military vehicles reinforced with bulldozers, helicopters and drones, said the sources, adding that Israeli forces have imposed a siege on the three cities, Xinhua news agency reported.

“An Israeli drone attack on a vehicle in southern Jenin killed three young men,” the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said in a press statement.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces stormed Jenin overnight and clashed with local people, with the army’s bullets killing two young men identified as Qassam Jabarin, 25, and Asem Dabaya, 39, according to a statement issued by the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Kamal Abu al-Rab, Governor of Jenin in the Palestinian Authority, said the Israeli army threatened to storm hospitals and impose a siege on medical institutions in the city.

Besides, four young men were killed in a bombing carried out by an Israeli drone on the Far’a refugee camp south of Tubas, said the PRCS.

According to medical sources, the four dead were identified as Morad, 13, Mohammed Ja’aysa, 17, Ibrahim Ghanimi, 22, and Ahmed Nabrisi, 23.

In Tulkarm, Palestinian security sources told Xinhua that Israeli forces stormed the city and deployed infantry and sniper teams in the woods and farms surrounding the Nour Shams camp amid intense aircraft flights.

On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israel Securities Authority and Israel Police issued a joint statement, which said Israeli security forces carried out “counterterrorism” operations in the three cities, killing five “armed terrorists” in Jenin and Tulkarm and four in Far’a refugee camp from air and ground.

Israeli media reports said the operation in northern West Bank is the largest of its kind since 2002.

Israel has been carrying out almost daily raids in the West Bank since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out on October 7, 2023.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, more than 660 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks across the West Bank since the onset of the conflict.

IANS