An Israeli military operation in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank killed at least seven people on Tuesday, according to Palestinian health officials, as the Israel Defense Forces announced a new “large-scale” offensive in the region on the third day of the day. A ceasefire in the Little Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank, which unlike Gaza has long been militarily occupied by Israel and is not controlled by Hamas, reported the deaths due to the new IDF operation.
In a statement released by his office, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF and police forces “launched a large and significant military operation to eradicate terrorism in Jenin.”
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Dubbing the operation “Iron Wall,” Netanyahu called it “another step towards achieving the goal we have set for ourselves: strengthening security” in the West Bank and acting “methodically and resolutely against the Iranian axis everywhere where he sends his weapons.”
Throughout the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Jenin has been the focus of Israeli raids into the occupied territory. The Palestinian Authority, which administers part of the West Bank, launched its own raid in the region late last year.
Violence in the West Bank has increased during the Gaza war, with Israel saying it is working to stamp out Iranian-backed militancy. The Palestinian Ministry of Health says more than 800 people have been killed in Israeli raids in the West Bank since the start of the war following the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. Several Israelis were also killed recently during attacks by Palestinians.
The Israeli military launched its new operations hours after President Trump rescinded Biden-era executive orders that authorized U.S. sanctions against individuals who undermine peace in the occupied West Bank, primarily targeting Israeli settlers.
The Biden administration used the executive order to impose a handful of sanctions on extremist settlers accused of using violence against Palestinians living in the West Bank.
Israeli settlements and small outposts in the West Bank are illegal under international law. The highest court of the UN, the International Court of Justice, governed Last summer, Israel was to cease its settlement activities and end what it called the “illegal” occupation – a decision that was not legally binding and which was condemned by the Israeli government.
Settlers celebrated the new Trump administration, saying it will take a more favorable approach to illegal settlements in the Palestinian territory.
During his first term, Mr. Trump took unprecedented steps to support Israel’s territorial claims, including recognize Jerusalem as capital and move the American embassy there, and recognize Israel’s commitment annexation of the Golan Heights.
After Mr. Trump’s re-election In November, Israel’s far-right finance minister suggested the country would consider annexing the occupied West Bank in 2025.
Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a member of Israel’s far-right Religious Zionist Party, said at the time that he believed Israel could work with the second Trump administration to promote annexation of the West Bank.
“I am confident that we will be able to work closely with President-elect Trump and all members of the new administration, to promote the common values and interests of the two countries, to strengthen the strength and security of the state of Israel,” he added. to expand the circle of peace and stability in the Middle East with strength and faith and on the basis of recognition of the indisputable historical belonging of the entire Land of Israel to the people of Israel”, a- he declared in a message on social networks.
The settlements are seen as an obstacle to a possible two-state solution, the long-standing U.S.-backed policy that envisions the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, as more Israeli Jews live in the occupied territory, the less likely it seems that Israel will ever relinquish control of the land to become part of a Palestinian state.