Toll rises as West Bank raids enter second day

AFP | Tulkarem, Palestinian Territories

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The death toll climbed yesterday as Israel pressed a large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank for a second day, despite UN concerns it is "fuelling an already explosive situation". The operation was launched as violence raged on in the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by the war that erupted after Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel.

Israel began coordinated raids in the northern West Bank cities of Jenin, Tubas and Tulkarem early on Wednesday, in what the military called a "counter-terrorism" operation. Columns of Israeli armored vehicles backed by troops and warplanes were sent in before soldiers encircled refugee camps in Tubas and Tulkarem,as well as Jenin , and exchanged fire with Pales - tinians. The army said it killed seven yesterday, bringing to 16 the death toll reported by the Israeli military since the launch of the West Bank operation. The Palestinian health ministry earlier reported that 15 Palestinians had been killed since the beginning of the operation.

A military statement said five militants were killed Thursday in the Tulkarem refugee camp, including Muhammad Jaber, also known as Abu Shujaa. Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad said he was its commander in the nearby Nur Shams refugee camp. It added that two other militants were killed in Jenin on Thursday. The violence has caused significant destruction, especially in Tulkarem, whose governor described the raids as "unprecedented" and a "dangerous signal".

AFPTV footage showed bulldozers ripping up the asphalt from streets in the city. Widespread damage was reported to infrastructure. Witnesses said the Israeli forces had withdrawn from Al-Farra refugee camp in Tubas where several Palestinians were killed on Wednesday.

'Explosive situation'

An AFP journalist said clashes were taking place in Jenin, where a drone was seen flying overhead and the streets were empty. Another said Israeli soldiers were operating in Tulkarem. The Palestinian Prisoners' Club said at least 45 people had been arrested in the West Bank since the start of the Israeli operation. United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, in a statement, called for an "immediate cessation of these operations".

He condemned the use of air strikes on civilian targets and "the loss of lives, including of children". "These dangerous developments are fuelling an already explosive situation in the occupied West Bank and further undermining the Palestinian Authority," the statement said. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday cut short a visit to Saudi Arabia to address the crisis, while Jordan's King Abdullah II appealed for a ceasefire in Gaza to stop the spread of violence.

Iran's foreign ministry condemned the operation in the West Bank, describing it as a "continuation of the genocide in the Gaza Strip". The United Nations on Wednesday said at least 637 Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers since October 7. Nineteen Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during army operations over the same period, according to Israeli official figures.

'Don't know where to go'

Violence also raged in Gaza, where the Israeli military on Thursday said it "eliminated dozens" of militants during the past day in close-quarters combat and air strikes. Increasingly desperate families of the hostages gathered at the border with Gaza on Thursday to deliver symbolic messages to their captive relatives. Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the mother of the hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was among those present.

She yelled into a microphone: "I love you, stay strong, survive." Afterwards, she told AFP the war in Gaza had "gone on way too long" and there was "suffering on all sides", including Gazans. "There is so much agony, and it has to stop." Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 40,602 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.

The war has devastated Gaza and triggered a humanitarian crisis. "It's just catastrophic," Louise Wateridge, a spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said of the effects of the war and repeated evacuation orders from the Israeli military. "What we're seeing now is families, mothers, children dragging their belongings," she said on social media platform X. "There's very limited access to any kind of vehicles for this kind of displacement now, and people just don't know where to go."

As emergency services crumble under the strain of the war, Gaza's civil defence agency said ambulance and fire services had been severely degraded, with most "hit by Israeli strikes". In the latest bloodshed, the agency said Israeli shelling killed five displaced people in a tent east of Khan Yunis.