CNN —
Israeli forces carried out raids and airstrikes in several parts of the occupied West Bank early on Wednesday, killing at least nine Palestinians, in what Israel said was its largest attack in years.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the Israel Security Agency (ISA), confirmed that they launched a major counter-terrorism operation overnight in the Jenin and Tulkarem areas of the northern West Bank.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the operation was designed to “thwart Islamic Iranian terrorist organizations” and claimed Iran was seeking to establish an “eastern front” against Israel.
“We must address this threat the same way we address the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including by temporarily evacuating the Palestinian population and taking all necessary measures,” he wrote on social media. “This is a war, in every sense of the word, and we must win.”
The operation comes as Israel steps up its military operations in the West Bank, which has been hit by frequent clashes since Israel launched its war in Gaza on October 7 in response to Hamas attacks in southern Israel.
Israel Defense Forces international spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told a news conference that Israel had identified a “systematic strategy in Iran” to smuggle weapons and explosives into the West Bank.
“In particular, in Jenin and Tulkarm, there have been more than 150 gun and explosive attacks in these areas alone over the past year,” Shoshani said on Wednesday.
The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry condemned Israel’s “violations and crimes,” particularly its “ongoing genocidal war in the Gaza Strip and its attacks on the northern West Bank.”
Early indications pointed to a massive joint Israeli operation involving drones, bulldozers, army and security forces, four battalions of the Israeli Border Guard, and an elite infiltration unit. Video obtained by CNN showed bulldozers destroying roads in downtown Tulkarem and a convoy moving through Jenin.
Additional footage released by the Israeli military showed the purported attack on a militant operations room in Noor Shams, a refugee camp near Tulkarem.
Palestinian deaths were reported in the towns of Tubas and Jenin, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
At least two of those killed in Jenin were killed by Israeli artillery fire, while three others were killed in a drone attack on their vehicle on the city’s outskirts, the PRCS said, adding that one person was seriously wounded in the attack.
Earlier, a joint PRCS and health ministry tally put the death toll at at least 10.
The Palestinian Health Ministry warned that Israeli military operations were affecting hospitals, following reports that Israeli forces had surrounded several medical facilities in Jenin and prevented ambulances from moving.
The ministry said in a statement that Israeli forces had blocked the road to Ibn Sina Hospital with piles of earth, surrounded the government hospital in Jenin and besieged the Red Crescent Society and the Association of Friends of Patients.
“Dozens of patients are currently being treated in public, private and charitable hospitals in Jenin,” the ministry said, adding that the lives of patients and medical staff were at risk.
PRCS spokesman Mahmoud al-Saadi told CNN that the Israeli army was restricting the movement of ambulances, making it “difficult to reach hospitals in Jenin.”
Footage obtained by CNN showed Israeli military vehicles parked at the entrance to Jenin Government Hospital, blocking the entrance, as well as surrounding Jenin’s Ibn Sina Hospital.
IDF spokesman Shoshani said the army had “no plans to occupy or occupy” the hospital in Jenin but was stationing troops there to prevent “terrorists” from hiding and operating there. “We are trying to prevent the hospital from becoming a battlefield,” he said.
“Three Israeli military vehicles were in the area,” Wisam Bakr, director of Jenin Government Hospital, told CNN on Wednesday. [were] The Israeli military has notified the Jenin governor of its intention to “attack the Jenin Government Hospital.”
The Islamic Jihad militant group condemned the Israeli military’s “comprehensive aggression” into the occupied West Bank, calling it an “open and undeclared war.”
In a separate statement, the group’s military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, said it had targeted and shot down an Israeli drone near Jenin. It said its fighters were targeting Israeli forces with “intense volleys of direct hits.”
CNN has not been able to verify the Al-Quds Brigades’ claim.
Hamas, meanwhile, called for “total mobilization against the occupying forces and settlers in all parts of the occupied territories.” The group called the Israeli operation “large-scale” and accused the Israeli military of “deliberately destroying infrastructure using massive military force, accompanied by drone and fighter jet airstrikes.”
Israel has occupied the West Bank since seizing the territory from Jordan in 1967. Over the decades since, Israel has expanded Jewish settlements in the West Bank that are considered illegal under international law, despite a series of peace deals with the Palestinians in the 1990s.
The Palestinian Health Ministry reported on Tuesday that 652 Palestinians, including 150 children, have been killed and more than 5,400 injured in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem since October 7.
In addition to Israeli military raids, armed Jewish settlers also frequently attack Palestinian towns. On August 15, settlers attacked the village of Zit. Village residents told CNN they saw about 30 settlers, armed and dressed in all black, jump over a fence and enter their homes, smashing windows and throwing Molotov cocktails.
In a landmark advisory opinion in July, the United Nations’ highest court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), said Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal and its “unlawful presence” in the area should end “as soon as possible.”
