ReutersThe Israeli army said that two soldiers were killed in a ball attack in the occupied West Bank, while its forces are pursuing a major operation against the Palestinian armed groups in the north of the territory.
Eight other soldiers were injured when a Palestinian shooter opened fire at a checkpoint in the village of Tayasir, 2 km (1.2 thousand) north of Tubas, according to a military statement. The striker was shot, he said.
Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic jihad praised the attack in response to the Israeli operation in Tubas, Jenin and Tulkarm, but neither of them said that they were behind.
Meanwhile, an official of the United Nations warned that the situation in Jenin’s refugee camp was heading in a “catastrophic direction”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the start of a large-scale operation to “defeat terrorism” in Jenin on January 21, three days after the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The operation was extended to Tulkarm and Tobas last week.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that Israeli forces have killed 70 Palestinians through the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the start of the year.
The figure includes the 25 reported in the Jenin region and 13 in the Tobas and Tulkarm areas in the past two weeks.
Israeli defense forces (FDI) said they had killed around 55 “terrorists” and arrested 380 people wanted in the West Bank in January.
The Israeli media reported that the Palestinian who had made Tuesday shooting in Tayasir had been able to sneak up with a military post next to the control point before opening fire with a M16 rifle with soldiers stationed there- down.
The soldiers retaliated and a firearm battle lasted several minutes before the death of the attacker, they said.
The FDI appointed the two soldiers who were killed like the SGT Maj Ofer Yung, 39, and the SGT Maj Avraham Friedman, 43.
Two of the eight wounded soldiers were in a serious state at the hospital, he said.
The head of the central command of the FDI, Major Gen Avi Bluth, said that the attack was “a demonstration of the need for the anti -terrorist operation in [the West Bank]”.
“We are determined to continue the operation, to expand it if necessary and to win victory,” he added.
Hamas praised what he described as “the heroic and qualitative operation carried out by a fighter of the Palestinian resistance” to Tayasir, claiming that it showed “the crimes of the occupation and its aggression against the West Bank occupied by The north will not remain unpunished “.
ReutersOn Monday, the spokesman for the president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas alleged that the Israeli operation was part of a wider effort aimed at “moving citizens and ethnic cleaning”.
Addressing journalists in Geneva on Tuesday, Juliette Touma of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned of the deterioration situation of the Jenin refugee camp.
Hundreds of Israeli security forces supported by helicopters, drones and armored bulldozers have made raids in the camp for a long time as a bastion of armed groups.
“Large parts of the camp have been completely destroyed in a series of detonations by Israeli forces. It is estimated that 100 houses have been destroyed or strongly damaged,” said Touma.
“This detonation that occurred on Sunday was when the children were supposed to return to school,” she added.
The FDI said on Sunday that it had “dismantled” 23 structures where explosive laboratories, weapons, observation positions and other infrastructures belonging to armed groups were located.
Touma also said that UNRWA, which has not been able to provide services in the camp since the beginning of December, had not received any prior warning from the Israeli authorities.
On Thursday, two laws were adopted by the Israeli Parliament last year which prohibited UNRWA activity on Israeli soil and prohibited contacts between Israeli officials and UNRWA employees. Israeli officials accuse an UNRWA of being an accomplice of Hamas – an allegation that the agency denies.
Touma said that the Israeli government had “not communicated to UNRWA how they intend to implement” laws, and that UNRWA teams “remained and delivered”.
There has been a peak of violence in the West Bank since the deadly attack of Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023 and the war which followed in Gaza.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed because Israeli forces have intensified their raids, saying that they are trying to discover deadly Palestinian attacks against the Israelis in the West Bank and Israel.
Israel has built around 160 colonies sheltering some 700,000 Jews since he occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war. The regulations are considered illegal by virtue of international law, although Israel disputes it.
