Israel’s Iron Wall campaign targets the occupied Palestinian territory after the Gaza ceasefire, intensifying operations in the West Bank.
Israel’s deadly offensive in Jenin has entered its third day, with its forces also increasingly targeting Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Two Palestinians were killed overnight in attacks by Israeli forces in Birkin, bringing the death toll to 12 in the first two days of large-scale raids in Jenin governorate.
The raids are part of Israel’s Iron Wall campaign in the occupied Palestinian territory, which was launched days after a cease-fire in Gaza.
Palestinian news network Al-Quds Today reported that Muhammad Abu al-Assad and Qutiba al-Shalabi were killed “in armed clashes with the occupying forces that lasted for several hours.”
The Israeli military confirmed the deaths on Thursday, claiming the two Palestinians were linked to Islamic Jihad and wanted in a shooting attack in the village of Fandoq in Qalqiliya governorate earlier this month that killed three Israelis and wounded six. .
The Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs said that Israeli forces refused to release their bodies.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli forces involved in the killings surrounded a house in Birkin and fired bullets and missiles at it before bulldozing it to the ground.
The report quoted the mayor of Birkin, Hassan Soubh, as saying that Israeli soldiers used women as human shields during the attack.
On Wednesday, Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP) reported that 16-year-old Mu’taz Imad Musa Abu Tabikh was shot dead by Israeli forces.
He was one of seven Palestinian minors killed in Israeli strikes in the occupied West Bank this year, according to the Ramallah-based organization. Four of them were killed in Israeli drone strikes and three were shot dead.
‘collective punishment’
The Jenin refugee camp, established by UNRWA in 1953 to accommodate displaced Palestinians, is the center of Palestinian resistance groups operating under the umbrella of the Jenin Brigade and has long been the focus of Israeli military incursions.
Israeli army spokesman Nadav Shoshani claimed the raid on the camp was aimed at countering hundreds of terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria. [the occupied West Bank] And the rest of Israel”.
The attacks on Jenin are just one element of Israel’s rapid offensive in the West Bank, which the Palestinian Authority (PA) says is aimed at “gradual annexation” of the area.
Recent Israeli raids in the West Bank include:
- Intercession Camp in Jerusalem
- Seir, north of Hebron
- Brahm, north of Ramallah
- Ramon, east of Ramallah
- Burzeit, north of Ramallah
- Beita, south of Nablus
- Azoon, east of Qalqilya city
- Qalqila
The sudden increase in settler attacks and Israeli military operations has frightened Palestinians in the occupied territory, who believe they may now face the same fate as their compatriots in Gaza.
Residents have also reported a significant increase in Israeli checkpoints and delays throughout the area.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Bethlehem, Palestinian researcher and activist Hamza Zubaydat said the situation in the occupied territory had become “catastrophic”.
“By cutting off and cutting off Palestinian villages and towns, it means not being able to move doctors, nurses, teachers, even goods and fruits and vegetables from one place to another.
This means more poverty and suffering for the Palestinian people, he said.
Zobeidat said Israel is continuing a “continuous process of annexation” with the support of the Trump administration, while the new US president has already lifted sanctions imposed by his predecessor on more than 30 Israeli settler groups and institutions. have done
President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Elise Stefanik, told U.S. senators on Tuesday that Israel has a “biblical right” to the West Bank.
In response, the UN chief’s spokesman Farhan Haq told Al Jazeera, “The future of the West Bank, Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories needs to be resolved through negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian authorities.”
