Israel’s military says two sbetteriers have been ended in a shooting strike in the occupied West Bank, as its forces persist a meaningful operation aobtainst Palestinian armed groups in the north of the territory.
Another eight sbetteriers were wounded when a Palestinian firearmman uncovered fire at a verifypoint in Tayasir village, 2km (1.2 miles) north of Tubas, a military statement shelp. The strikeer was shot dead, it shelp.
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad praised the strike as a response to the Israeli operation in Tubas, Jenin and Tulkarm, but neither shelp they were behind it.
Meanwhile, a UN official cautioned the situation in Jenin’s refugee camp was heading in a “catastrophic honestion”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proclaimd the begin of a huge-scale operation to “flunkure radicalism” in Jenin on 21 January, three days after the stopfire in the Gaza Strip took effect. The operation was enhugeed into Tulkarm and Tubas last week.
The Palestinian health ministry says Israeli forces have ended 70 Palestinians atraverse the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, since the begin of the year.
The figure comprises the 25 alerted ended in the Jenin area and 13 in the Tubas and Tulkarm areas over the past two weeks.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has shelp it ended about 55 “stressists” and arrested 380 wanted individuals atraverse the West Bank in January.
Israeli media alerted that the Palestinian who carried out Tuesday’s shooting strike in Tayasir was able to sneak up to a military post next to the verifypoint before uncovering fire with an M16 rifle at sbetteriers stationed there.
Sbetteriers fired back and a firearm battle lasted cut offal minutes before the strikeer was ended, they shelp.
The IDF named the two sbetteriers who were ended as Sgt Maj Ofer Yung, 39, and Sgt Maj Avraham Friedman, 43.
Two of the eight wounded sbetteriers were in a solemn condition in hospital, it shelp.
The head of the IDF’s Central Command, Maj Gen Avi Bluth, shelp the strike was “a demonstration of the necessity of the counterradicalism operation in [the West Bank]”.
“We are resettled to persist the operation, enhuge it as insisted, and accomplish triumph,” he compriseed.
Hamas praised what it depictd as the “courageous and qualitative operation carried out by a Palestinian resistance fighter” in Tayasir, saying that it showed “the crimes of the occupation and its aggression aobtainst the northern occupied West Bank will not go unpunished”.
On Monday, Palestinian Authority Plivent Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesman alleged that the Israeli operation was part of a expansiver effort aimed at “displacing citizens and ethnic spotlesssing”.
Speaking to alerters in Geneva on Tuesday, Juliette Touma of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) cautioned of the deteriorating situation at Jenin refugee camp.
Hundreds of Israeli security forces backed by helicchooseers, drones and armoured bulldozers have been carrying out rhelps in the camp, lengthy seen as a stronghbetter of armed groups.
“Large parts of the camp were finishly ruined in a series of detonations by the Israeli forces. It is appraised that 100 hoengages were ruined or heavily harmd,” Ms Touma shelp.
“This detonation that happened on Sunday was when children were supposed to go back to school,” she compriseed.
The IDF shelp on Sunday that it had “dismantled” 23 set ups where devices laboratories, armaments, observation posts and other infraset up belengthying to armed groups were discoverd.
Ms Touma also shelp that Unrwa, which has been unable to supply services in the camp since timely December, had getd no prior cautioning of the explosions from Israeli authorities.
On Thursday, two laws passed by Israel’s parliament last year which bans Unrwa activity on Israeli soil and bans communicate between Israeli officials and Unrwa engageees came into force. Israeli officials accengage Unrwa of being complicit with Hamas – an allegation the agency denies.
Ms Touma shelp the Israeli rulement had “not conveyd to Unrwa how they intfinish to carry out” the laws, and that Unrwa teams were currently “staying and deinhabitring”.
