An ambulance waits for clearance to transport injured people during an Israeli military operation in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, on July 3. The Israeli military conducted a military operation into the West Bank on Wednesday that Palestinian officials said killed at least nine people. File Photo by STR/UPI | License Photo
The Israeli military launched a operation in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, killing at least nine people and injuring 11 others, according to Palestinian officials.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the overnight operation on X, calling it a “counter terrorism” mission in Jenin and Tulkarm. Advertisement
Several hours later, the IDF said it, the Shin Bet security agency and the Air Force had attacked and killed five alleged terrorists operating in the Nur al-Shams Palestinian refugee camp, stating a compound located there was being used to manage “terrorist activity in the region.”
בפעילות משותפת של צה"ל ושב"כ, כלי-טיס של חיל-האוויר תקף וחיסל שלשום (ב'), חמישה מחבלים שפעלו בחדר מבצעים במרחב נור א-שמס שבחטיבת מנשה. המתחם שימש את המחבלים לניהול פעילות הטרור במרחב ולפגיעה בכוחותינו הפועלים בשטח.
בין המחבלים שחוסלו, גבריל גסאן אסמאעיל גבריל, מחבל אשר היה מעורב… pic.twitter.com/tUhuptVOyc— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) August 28, 2024
The death toll of nine Palestinians killed and 11 wounded in the large-scale military operation was reported by state-run Palestinian WAFA news agency, citing the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. Advertisement
Three Palestinians were reportedly killed when an Israeli drone targeted their vehicle, while the other four were killed in a second reported drone strike on the Al-Far’a refugee camp.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz of Israel explained on X that the operation in the refugee camps was to “thwart Islamic-Iranian terrorist infrastructure.” He accused Iran of working to established a “terrorist front” in the West Bank and then called on Israel to wage war in the occupied region as it has been in Gaza.
“We must deal with the threat just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and whatever steps are required,” he said. “This is a war of everything and we must win it.”
Israel has frequently conducted raids and military operations in the West Bank since its war against Hamas began with the Iran-backed militia’s bloody Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 Israelis.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, since the war began, Israeli forces have killed 577 Palestinians in the West Bank.
It also said that as of Sunday, 88.5% of the Gaza Strip has been placed under evacuation order. Advertisement
Palestine’s Ministry of Health — which does not differentiate between Hamas fighters and civilians — states more than 40,400 Palestinians have been killed during the war and another 93,500 have been wounded.
