Israeli forces launched a major assault on the West Bank early Wednesday that appears to be the largest Israeli operation in the occupied territory since the Second Intifada in the early 2000s.
The assault focused on northern areas of the West Bank, including Jenin, Tulkarm, and Tubas, which were targeted by ground raids and airstrikes. So far, at least 10 Palestinians have been killed in the operation that the Israeli military has said will last several days.
When the attack started, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the West Bank must be dealt with the same way as Gaza and called for evacuating Palestinians.
“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,” Katz wrote on X. “This is a war for all terms and purposes and we must win it.”
According to Haaretz, the Israeli military said it might allow residents of the areas it’s attacking to leave, signaling they could order evacuations.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health has said that Israeli forces have besieged medical facilities in Jenin and obstructed the movement of vehicles. A spokesman for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society told CNN that “getting to the hospital in Jenin is difficult.”
The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, announced that its fighters were confronting Israeli forces with “heavy volleys of direct bullets” and claimed an Israeli drone was downed. So far, there have been no reports of Israeli casualties in the attack.
Amid Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, violence in the West Bank has soared. Since October 7, over 650 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military and settlers, including 150 children.
Some members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition are settlers themselves and have long pushed for the annexation of the West Bank, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has another minister position in the Defense Ministry that puts him in charge of expanding settlements.