Israel’s military carried out raids and airstrikes in multiple parts of the occupied West Bank early Wednesday, killing at least nine Palestinians in an offensive Israel says is its most expansive in years,
CNN reports.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed it had launched a large counter-terror operation overnight with the Israel Security Agency (ISA) in the areas of Jenin and Tulkarem in the north of the West Bank.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the operation had been staged to “thwart Islamic-Iranian terrorist infrastructure,” claiming that Iran was working to establish an “eastern front” against Israel.
“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 wrote on social media. “This is a war for all terms and purposes and we must win it.”
The operation comes as Israel steps up its military operations in the West Bank, where clashes have become more frequent since Israel began its war in Gaza in response to Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7.
The IDF’s international spokesperson, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, said in a briefing that Israel had identified “a systematic strategy in Iran” of smuggling weapons and explosives into the West Bank.
“Specifically, about Jenin and Tulkarm, we’ve seen over 150 shooting and explosive attacks originated from these areas alone over the past year,” Shoshani said on Wednesday.
The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry condemned the “violation and crimes” by Israel, “especially the ongoing war of genocide in the Gaza Strip and the targeting of the northern West Bank.”
Early indications showed a significant, combined Israeli operation, involving drones and bulldozers, military and security forces, four battalions of the Israel Border Police, and an elite unit of undercover troops. Video obtained by CNN showed bulldozers tearing up a street in a built up area of Tulkarem, and also moving in convoy through Jenin.
Additional footage released by Israel’s military showed what it said was a strike on a militant operations room in Nur Shams, a refugee camp near Tulkarem.
Palestinian deaths were reported in the towns of Tubas and Jenin, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
At least two of those killed in Jenin were as a result of Israeli military fire and three others were killed in a drone strike on a vehicle on the outskirts of Jenin, according to the PRCS. It added that one person was critically injured in the strike.
