Hundreds of Israeli troops backed by helicopters, drones and armoured personnel carriers raided the flashpoint cities of Jenin and Tulkarm and other areas in the occupied West Bank yesterday, killing at least 10 Palestinians.
The assault, one of the largest seen in the West Bank for months, followed a series of smaller raids in the area over recent weeks as Israeli forces sought to crush groups of fighters from Palestinian groups.
The armed wings of the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah factions said in separate statements their gunmen were detonating bombs against Israeli military vehicles in Jenin, Tulkarm and Far’a, a town in the Jordan Valley.
After the initial assault, the sounds of gunfire and explosions could be heard from Jenin’s crowded refugee camp, a heavily built up township adjacent to the main urban district that has been a hotbed of fighter activity for years.
Palestinian health authorities said at least 10 Palestinians had been killed in different areas of the West Bank by Israeli forces.
A short distance outside Jenin, blood soaked the ground next to a damaged car and an impact crater from a drone strike the Israeli military said had killed three fighters.
The Palestinian health ministry said troops had surrounded Jenin’s main hospital, blocking off access with earth mounds – a measure the military said was intended to prevent fighters seeking refuge.
A military spokesperson said yesterday’s operation followed a sharp rise in fighter activity in recent months, with more than 150 attacks from Tulkarm and Jenin involving shooting or explosives over the past year.
He said the military assessed that there was an “immediate threat” to civilians but that the operation was part of a broad strategy aimed at thwarting attacks.
Earlier, the military released the names of five Palestinians identified as fighters who were killed in Tulkarm on Monday. Two were claimed by Hamas and three by Islamic Jihad.
As well as the major raids in Jenin and Tulkarm, the military said forces also raided Far’a near Tubas in the Jordan Valley, killing at least four people.
l The US imposed sanctions on an Israeli nonprofit and a Jewish West Bank settlement security official yesterday in Washington’s latest effort to punish Jewish settlers it accuses of extremist violence against Palestinians.
Hashomer Yosh, a non-governmental organisation that says it helps protect settlers, provided material support to an unauthorised West Bank outpost already subject to sanctions, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
The official is Yitzhak Levi Filant, a civilian security co-ordinator at the Yitzhar settlement who led a group of armed settlers in February to set up roadblocks and conduct patrols aimed at forcing Palestinians from their land, Miller said.
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