An Israeli government spokesperson says several suspected militants were also arrested in its 'counter-terrorism' operation.
ADVERTISEMENTTen Palestinian militants were killed during a large-scale Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank, authorities said Wednesday, with troops sealing off the city of Jenin — long a militant stronghold.
IDF Spokesperson, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, said “large forces” had entered Jenin, long a militant stronghold, as well as Tulkarem and the Al-Faraa refugee camp dating back to the 1948 Mideast war, all in the northern West Bank.
He said Israeli forces killed three militants in an airstrike in Tulkarem and four in an airstrike in Al-Faraa.
He said another five suspected militants were arrested, and that the raids were the first stage of an even larger operation.
Four Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in Jenin, according to Palestinian officials.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas cut short his visit with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday in order to return to the West Bank.
The pair had been meeting in Riyadh to discuss the ongoing war in the Gaza strip.
The ongoing operation is among the largest in the West Bank in months, and a reminder that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict extends far beyond the war in Gaza which began after the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel.
Israel says it is rooting out West Bank militants to prevent attacks, while Palestinians fear it intends to broaden the war and expel them from territories they want for a future state.
Israel has carried out near-daily raids across the West Bank since the Hamas attacks on 7 October of last year, which triggered an ongoing war in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz drew comparisons with Gaza and called for similar measures in the West Bank.
"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 might be required. This is a war in every respect, and we must win it," he wrote on the platform X.
Shoshani said there was no plan to evacuate civilians.
'Serious escalation' leaves Jenin surrounded
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the bodies of seven people were brought to the hospital in Tubas, another West Bank city, and another two were brought to the hospital in Jenin. The ministry identified two killed in Jenin as Qassam Jabarin, 25, and Asem Balout, 39.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the raids as a "serious escalation" and called on the US to intervene, according to the official Palestinian news agency.
ADVERTISEMENTPalestinian militant groups, meanwhile, said they were exchanging fire with the Israeli military.
The governor of Jenin, Kamal Abu al-Rub, said on Palestinian radio that Israeli forces had surrounded the city, blocking exit and entry points and access to hospitals, and ripping up infrastructure in the camp.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank said Israeli forces had blocked the roads leading to a hospital with dirt barriers and surrounded other medical facilities in Jenin. Shoshani said the military was trying to prevent militants from taking shelter in hospitals.
Hamas called on Palestinians in the West Bank to rise up, saying the raids are part of a larger plan to expand the war in Gaza and blaming the escalation on US support for Israel. The militant group called on security forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which cooperates with Israel, to "join the sacred battle of our people."
ADVERTISEMENTAt least 652 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli fire since the war in Gaza began over 10 months ago, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Most have died during military raids, which often result in exchanges of fire with militants.
Israel says the operations are required to dismantle Hamas and other militant groups and to prevent attacks on Israelis, which have also risen since the start of the war.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 war. The Palestinians and much of the international community envisage all three forming part of a future Palestinian state.
However, Israel has built settlements across the West Bank that are now home to more than 500,000 Jewish settlers. These residents have Israeli citizenship, while the 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under Israeli military rule with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited control over population centres.
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