At least nine Palestinians were killed overnight after Israel carried out a broad raid in the West Bank, according to local health officials.
The Israeli military said on social media it was carrying out counterterrorism operations in Tulkarm and Jenin, as well as other territories in the region. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz confirmed Wednesday that the country’s military conducted the operation to thwart terrorist groups and suggested some residents may need to evacuate.
“The [Israeli military] has been operating with full force since last night in the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps to dismantle Iranian-Islamic terror infrastructures established there,” Katz said in on the social platform X. “Iran is working to establish an eastern terror front against Israel in Judea and Samaria, following the Gaza and Lebanon model, by funding and arming terrorists and smuggling advanced weapons from Jordan.”
“We must address this threat with the same determination used against terror infrastructures in Gaza, including temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and any necessary measures,” he added. “This is a war, and we must win it.”
The Israeli military has conducted frequent raids in the West Bank and Gaza Strip following Palestinian militant group Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which sparked the war in the region. In the overnight raid, the Israeli forces blocked off the main hospital in Jenin, according to the local health officials — a method to ensure the militants could not seek refuge, Reuters reported.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, wrote on X that the expanded operation in both West Bank cities came after increased terrorist activity that, he said, endangered both the lives of Israelis and Palestinians in the region.
“Our troops are currently operating in the areas of Jenin and Tulkarm, carrying out intelligence-guided, counter-terrorism operations to prevent further attacks on civilians,” Shoshani said.
WAFA, the state-run Palestinian news agency, said Israel has imposed curfews in the eastern region of Jenin and the military has already performed field interrogations.
More than 600 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and more than 1,400 structures have been demolished, according to the United Nations.
In its initial strike last fall, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and took around 250 hostages. Since then, the Israeli military operation in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, though the tally does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The latest raid comes as the U.S. and partners in the region have tried to push for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas that would release the remaining hostages.