Israel’s foreign minister on Wednesday raised the idea of evacuating people in the occupied West Bank as Israel’s military carried out raids and airstrikes in an operation that appeared to cover a large part of the Palestinian territory. The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least nine people had been killed in the attacks.
Mr. Katz said that Israel’s military had started an operation in Jenin and Tulkarm to thwart terrorist groups. “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 are required,” he posted on social media.
The comments suggested the start of a significant escalation in Israel’s military campaign in the West Bank, which has ramped up since the war in Gaza began. While 90 percent of Gaza’s population of more than two million people have been forced to leave their homes, residents of the West Bank have not endured the scale of bombardments, raids and evacuation orders that Gazans have in the past 10 months of war.
The Israeli military said it was carrying out counterterrorism operations in Tulkarm and in Jenin, without providing details. The operations appeared to be occurring elsewhere in the West Bank as well. The Palestinian Health Ministry said that seven of the people had been killed in Tubas, in addition to two in Jenin, and that 11 others had been injured.
Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, said that Israeli troops had moved in on hospitals, hindering ambulances at one medical facility, and were bulldozing infrastructure in Jenin and Tulkarm.
Israeli forces blocked access in and out of Jenin and Tulkarm early Wednesday, and large numbers of military vehicles entered Jenin, Wafa reported.
On Monday, the Israeli military carried out an airstrike on the densely populated Nur Shams area in the West Bank, killing at least five people whom it described in a statement on Wednesday as terrorists. The military said that one of those killed in that strike was a man who had been released in November as part of a prisoner exchange.
Since the war in Gaza began last Oct. 7, more than 600 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, according to the United Nations. The U.N. humanitarian coordinator also said Israeli forces had demolished, confiscated or forced the demolition of more than 1,400 structures across the West Bank since then.
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