Israel has launched a “wide” military operation in the West Bank

Israeli security forces launched a military operation on Tuesday in the Palestinian city of Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, an area Israel has targeted. hotbed of militancy A few days after the temporary ceasefire in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the operation, the latest in a series of raids in the West Bank over the past year, was aimed at “rooting out terrorism” and would be “wide and significant.” The Ministry of Health of the Palestinian Authority said that 8 people died and at least 35 were injured in the first hours of the operation.

For Mr. Netanyahu, the operation in the West Bank could be a distraction from Gaza Hamas militants paraded in the streets Even before the ceasefire began on Sunday, it was a show of strength that showed Mr Netanyahu had survived 15 months of war despite his vow to destroy it.

With its power in Gaza sharply reduced, Hamas has stepped up its efforts to arm militants in the West Bank to open another front against Israel, making an Israeli attack there almost inevitable, analysts say.

Jen’s operation comes amid a growing militant presence and heightened tensions in the West Bank. settler violence There is against Palestinian citizens flew away.

President Trump on Monday lifted sanctions imposed by the Biden administration last year on dozens of far-right Israeli individuals and settlement groups accused of violence against Palestinians and the seizure or destruction of Palestinian property.

The move came shortly after Mr. Trump took office, as Jewish extremists stormed several Palestinian villages, burning cars and property, Palestinian officials and the Israeli military said.

The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited control over parts of the West Bank and rivals Hamas, exercises its own control. operation against armed militants After largely leaving security to Israel in the Jenin region in recent weeks. Deadly Israeli raids and drone strikes in the West Bank over the past year they chewed the streets and left many Palestinian civilians in fear.

Residents of Jenin and witnesses said the local private Al-Amal hospital was surrounded and fired upon by Israeli forces on Tuesday.

22-year-old resident of Jenin, Kamila Mahmoud, said in a telephone interview, “It’s as if they came to us from Gaza with big vehicles, aggressive fire and drones.”

Residents said that Palestinian Authority security officers and medical workers were among the injured. Brig. General Anwar Rajab, the spokesman of the organization’s security forces, said that a Palestinian officer was killed.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions about the accounts.

Israeli military commander Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Israel “must be prepared for significant counter-terrorist operations” in a statement on Monday, a day after a Gaza ceasefire took effect, foreshadowing the Jenin raid. West Bank in the coming days to “stop and catch terrorists before they reach our civilians.” Mr. Halevi announced his resignation on Tuesday, citing in part the military’s failure to protect Israel from a Hamas-led offensive that led to the October 7, 2023, Gaza war.

About half a million displaced people and about 2.7 million Palestinians live in the West Bank. Palestinians and much of the world have long envisioned the territory as part of a future independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, and consider Jewish settlements illegal.

While Mr. Trump has sent mixed signals, his administration is expected to do so staunchly pro-Israel. Some settlement leaders have developed close ties with partners like Trump over the years Mike Huckabeewhom Mr. Trump has chosen as his next ambassador.

Hard-line members of Israel’s right-wing government demanded the removal of the Biden administration’s sanctions. a long list of executive orders signed by Mr. Trump immediately after the swearing-in ceremony. Palestinian officials strongly criticized the move, saying it would encourage more violence.

The cancellation coincided with a year second night in a row Extremist settlers in the West Bank have been subjected to violence in protest of the ceasefire. Yisrael Ganz, leader of the umbrella council representing all the settlements, welcomed Mr Trump’s decision but said he condemned all violence, even if it was perpetrated by “a handful” of settlers.

Far-right members of Mr. Netanyahu’s government oppose the ceasefire, the first phase of which calls for a six-week ceasefire and the exchange of 33 hostages held in Gaza for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Pressure from Mr. Trump and his representative, Steve Witkoff played an important role in closing the deal Between Israel and Hamas, Biden administration officials and other mediators. Mr Trump has warned there will be “hell to pay” if the Israeli hostages are not released by his inauguration.

But when asked on Monday whether he thought the ceasefire in Gaza would hold, Mr Trump said he was “unconvinced” and expressed no interest in the conflict. “This is not our war,” he said. “This is their war.”

“But I think they’ve weakened a lot on the other side,” he added, referring to Hamas.

Hamas was increasingly isolated was destroyed in Lebanon with its allies, overthrown in Syria and weakened in Iran. Seeking to ignite another front against Israel, Hamas issued a statement on Tuesday calling on the Palestinian masses to mobilize and confront Israeli forces in the West Bank.

“The only front they see is potential,” said Ehud Yaari, an Israel-based fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Noting that Israel has already raided Jenin more than a dozen times over the past year, Mr. Yaari said Israel had no choice but to launch a large-scale operation there because the Palestinian Authority’s efforts had failed. Hamas supplied the West Bank he noted that armed men with money and more sophisticated weapons and attacks on Israel are intensifying.

General Rajab, spokesman for the Palestinian Authority’s security forces, said the Israeli raids were “deliberately sabotaging Palestinian efforts to maintain law and order” by “disrupting the security campaign conducted by the Palestinian Authority” and creating chaos.

Settler extremists are also seeking to destabilize the West Bank and have said they will try to prevent Palestinian prisoners freed under the terms of a Gaza ceasefire from returning home. Israeli security chiefs have called the settlers’ attacks on Palestinians Jewish terrorism.

One of the Palestinian towns attacked by settlers on Monday was al-Funduq in the northern West Bank, where Palestinian gunmen believed to have come from another town opened fire on civilian buses and cars, killing three Israelis earlier this month.

Louay Tayem, the mayor of al-Fundugh, said dozens of Israeli settlers began raiding the village, as well as the neighboring area of ​​Jinsafut, around 9:15 p.m. Monday, and the attack lasted for about three hours before the settlers finally dispersed. by Israeli security forces. He said in a telephone interview that they broke the windows of the car, set fire to the factory’s kindergarten and two bulldozers, and tried to burn down the house.

Two Israeli men were shot and seriously wounded in one of the attacks on Monday, Israeli security forces said, according to Israel’s emergency services. Israeli officials said they were investigating.

Aaron Boxerman and Myra Noveck Contributed to reporting from Jerusalem and Ravan Sheikh Ahmed From Haifa, Israel.