Israeli occupation forces launched a series of assaults on northern West Bank cities, including Jenin, Tubas, and Tulkarm, during Tuseday’s late hours of the night and Wednesday early morning in operations that are deemed the largest since the Second Intifada in 2002, according to the Israeli military.
The offensive, which deployed warplanes, drones, and a considerable number of military vehicles, resulted in the murder of ten civilians and injuries to over eleven others.
This aggressive operation sparked intense clashes with Palestinian resistance fighters, further escalating the already fierce confrontations.
The Israeli military imposed a tight blockade on Jenin, Tubas, and Tulkarm, intentionally impeding emergency response teams from accessing the wounded.
Massive Raids and Violent Attacks
In Tulkarm, Israeli forces advanced into the city from the west, dispersing across its neighborhoods, where snipers and infantry units were deployed in the surrounding fields and farms, with drones maintaining constant surveillance from above.
The military besieged both Al-Isra Specialist Hospital and Thabet Thabet Hospital, impeding ambulance movements and detaining one vehicle in front of the governmental hospital.
In Jenin, forces raided the city via the Al-Jalameh checkpoint and encircled both the Jenin Governmental Hospital and Ibn Sina Hospital, inciting severe clashes. During these confrontations, two young men, Qassam Muhammad Jabbareen, 25, and Asim Walid Dabayya, 39, were killed, with several others sustaining injuries.
Between the villages of Sir and Misliya, south of Jenin, an Israeli drone struck a vehicle resulting in the deaths of three young men, in a separate incident.
In Tubas, early this morning, an Israeli drone attack on the Al-Far’a refugee camp, located south of the city, killed four Palestinians. The Red Crescent reported that Israeli forces obstructed their teams from reaching the targeted area under a stringent siege on Al-Far’a camp.
The four Palestinains killed in Tubas were identified as brothers Murad and Muhammad Masoud Ja’aisa, aged 13 and 17 respectively, alongside Ibrahim Abdul Qader Ghanaymi, 22, and Ahmed Saleh Nabarisi, 23.
The Israeli military conducted a nighttime incursion into the camp, deploying a substantial contingent of infantry soldiers. This was followed by reinforcements from the Hamra checkpoint, accompanied by bulldozers.
Snipers were strategically positioned within and around the refugee camp, while extensive drone surveillance provided overhead monitoring.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health has issued a stark warning regarding the perilous impact of the Israeli blockade on hospitals in Jenin and Tulkarm, as well as the imminent threats to storm these facilities.
The Ministry has characterized these actions as a direct threat to the lives of both patients and medical staff. It has appealed to the international community and the Red Cross to take decisive action to safeguard medical institutions, underscoring that the obstruction of ambulance access not only endangers lives but also constitutes a violation of human rights and international humanitarian law.
A Possible Uprising
Meanwhile, Israeli military has faced a fierce confrontations as raiding the West Bank Cities.
Palestinian resistance fighters spared no efforts to fend off the massive Israeli attacks, including armed resistance.
In Tulkarm, clashes erupted between the resistance and the Isralei forces. The Tulkarm Brigade of the Al-Qassam Brigades announced that it had shot down a drone in the Al-Manshiyya area and targeted snipers in a house in the Nur Shams camp, claiming to have caused injuries.
They also reported blowing up a military bulldozer in the Nur Shams camp and detonating two explosive devices on occupation vehicles in the Al-Maslak area of the camp, rendering them inoperable.
The Tulkarm Brigade stated that it is engaged in intense fighting with the Israeli occupation forces in the Al-Manshiyya and main street areas, as well as in the Jabal al-Nasr area, and has showered them with heavy gunfire.
Political expert Hassan Barari told Al Jazeera thay Israel’s objective number one is not Gaza, it is the West Bank. This is the heart of what they say is the Biblical land. Israel aims to expel even more Palestinians.
However, the Israeli military is likely to continue facing fierce resistance from a new generation of hardened fighters that are just as committed to protecting their homeland, he says.
The Palestinians “born after the second intifada are more “insistent to realise their objectives, even by violent means,” Barari said, without putting their hopes in the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Incitements to Expell West Bank People
Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz has claimed that Iran is attempting to establish a “terrorist front” against Israel from the West Bank, analogous to the situations in Gaza and Lebanon.
He advocated for the temporary evacuation of Palestinians from these areas and other necessary measures, stating, “This is a war for everything, and we must win it.”
He also asserted that “threats” in the occupied West Bank should be addressed with the same severity as those in Gaza, as the Israeli military embarked on its most extensive operation in the West Bank since the Second Intifada in 2002.
In remarks posted to his social media, Katz detailed that the Israeli army has been conducting a rigorous offensive since the previous night in the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps, resulting in numerous casualties. He accused Palestinains of being part of an “Iranian-backed Islamic terrorist infrastructure.”
In this context, the Israeli newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, reported on the potential for a “planned evacuation of Palestinian civilians in anticipated combat zones” during the operation.
The Israeli military announced the commencement of a comprehensive campaign in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Tubas in the northern West Bank early Wednesday morning. Palestinian resistance factions have vowed to confront the incursions with specialized operations.
According to official Israeli radio, this military campaign is the largest in the northern West Bank and is being executed at a divisional level, with the Israeli internal security agency (Shin Bet) and undercover units joining the military’s efforts.
Hamas Calls for Mobilization
In a separate development, Hamas has called on the Palestinian people, resistance fighters, and “the rebellious youth in the West Bank” to mobilize and escalate all forms of resistance against the occupation and its settlers.
The movement praised the heroic resistance by various factions in the Al-Far’a, Nour Shams, and Jenin refugee camps in confronting the occupation forces at their perimeters.
Hamas stated that the military operation launched by the Israeli occupation is an attempt to implement the plans of the extremist Israeli government.
The movement described the operation as an “expansion of the ongoing brutal campaign of extermination in Gaza to include cities and towns in the occupied West Bank,” warning of the “criminal” intentions of the occupation forces towards the Palestinian people in the West Bank.
Hamas emphasized that the siege of hospitals by the occupation army in Tulkarm and Jenin constitutes a severe violation of international and humanitarian law, calling on the international community to take urgent action to compel Israeli forces to cease targeting hospitals.
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