Aug. 28 (UPI) — The Israeli military launched a counter-terrorism operation in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday that Palestinian officials said killed at least 11 people and injured more than two dozen others.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the overnight operation in Jenin and Tulkarm in a statement.
It later said three armed terrorists were killed in an airstrike in Jenin. They were described as posing “a threat to the fighters in the field.” The Air Force killed five terrorists operating in the Nur al-Shams Palestinian refugee camp, where the IDF said there was a compound used to manage “terrorist activity in the region.”
בפעילות משותפת של צה”ל ושב”כ, כלי-טיס של חיל-האוויר תקף וחיסל שלשום (ב’), חמישה מחבלים שפעלו בחדר מבצעים במרחב נור א-שמס שבחטיבת מנשה. המתחם שימש את המחבלים לניהול פעילות הטרור במרחב ולפגיעה בכוחותינו הפועלים בשטח.
בין המחבלים שחוסלו, גבריל גסאן אסמאעיל גבריל, מחבל אשר היה מעורב… pic.twitter.com/tUhuptVOyc— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) August 28, 2024
The death toll of 11 Palestinians killed and 26 wounded in the large-scale military operation was reported by state-run Palestinian WAFA news agency.
Three Palestinians were reportedly killed when an Israeli drone targeted their vehicle, while four others were killed in a second reported drone strike on the Al-Far’a refugee camp.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz of Israel explained on X that the operation in the refugee camps was to “thwart Islamic-Iranian terrorist infrastructure.” He accused Iran of working to establish a “terrorist front” in the West Bank and then called on Israel to wage war in the occupied region as it has been in Gaza.
“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 said. “This is a war of everything and we must win it.”
Israel has frequently conducted raids and military operations in the West Bank since its war against Hamas began with the Iran-backed militia’s bloody Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 Israelis.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, since the war began, Israeli forces have killed 577 Palestinians in the West Bank.
It also said that as of Sunday, 88.5% of the Gaza Strip has been placed under evacuation order.
Palestine’s Ministry of Health — which does not differentiate between Hamas fighters and civilians — states more than 40,400 Palestinians have been killed during the war and another 93,500 have been wounded.