Israel conducts operation in West Bank, Hamas says 10 fighters killed

Israeli forces launched a large operation in the occupied West Bank overnight on Tuesday and into Wednesday, killing at least 10 Hamas militants, carrying out arrests and sealing off the city of Jenin.

The operation was among the largest in the West Bank in months, and a reminder that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict extends far beyond the conflict in Gaza since October 7, according to an AP report. Israel says it is rooting out West Bank militants to prevent attacks, while Palestinians fear it intends to broaden the conflict and expel them from territories they want for a future state.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said Israeli forces killed three militants in an air strike in Tulkarem and four in an air strike in Al-Faraa. He said another five suspected militants were arrested, and that the raids were the first stage of an even larger operation. Four Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in Jenin, according to Palestinian officials.

Hamas announced that 10 of its fighters had been killed in the West Bank on Wednesday, including three of the four men killed in Jenin. It was not immediately clear if the fourth was also a fighter.

The governor of Jenin, Kamal Abu al-Rub, said on Palestinian radio that Israeli forces had surrounded the city, blocking exit and entry points and access to hospitals, and ripping up infrastructure in the camp.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank said Israeli forces had blocked the roads leading to a hospital with dirt barriers and surrounded other medical facilities in Jenin. Shoshani said the military was trying to prevent militants from taking shelter in hospitals.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the raids as a "serious escalation" and called on the U.S. to intervene. Abbas announced he was cutting short a visit to Saudi Arabia and returning to the West Bank, where his government is based.

At least 652 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli fire since the conflict in Gaza began over 10 months ago, according to the Palestinian ministry. Most have died during raids, which often trigger gunbattles with militants.

Meanwhile in the central Gaza Strip, at least eight Palestinians were killed and dozens of others wounded in an Israeli air strike near a school housing displaced people, Palestinian security and medical sources said on Wednesday.

"A young man, Mohammad Abed, was killed by Israeli army gunfire in the village of Kafr Dan, west of Jenin," the ministry said in a press statement.

The army fired directly at Abed, a freed prisoner, who was subsequently taken to Jenin Government Hospital, according to Xinhua, citing local sources and eyewitnesses.

Two humanitarian workers in a UN-marked armored vehicle escaped physically unharmed a salvo of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) gunfire in Gaza, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday.

"Yesterday (Tuesday) evening, a clearly marked UN humanitarian vehicle, part of a convoy that had been fully coordinated with the IDF, was struck 10 times by IDF gunfire, including with bullets targeting front windows," said Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The World Food Programme (WFP) announced it was pausing the movement of its employees in Gaza until further notice after the WFP team came under fire.

The agency said the incident occurred a few meters from an Israeli checkpoint at the Wadi Gaza bridge as the team was returning from a mission to Kerem Shalom/Karam Abu Salem in two armored vehicles after escorting a convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian cargo routed to Gaza's central area.

The food agency said that despite receiving multiple clearances from Israeli authorities to approach the checkpoint, the vehicle was directly struck by gunfire as it was moving toward the checkpoint. The car sustained at least 10 bullet impacts: five on the driver's side, two on the passenger side and three on other parts of the vehicle.

Dujarric said the world body continues to work with the IDF to ensure these incidents do not happen again.

"We reiterate that parties must respect international humanitarian law at all times," he said. "This means that civilians must be protected, and their essential needs – including food, water, shelter and health – must be met, wherever they may be in Gaza. This applies to those under evacuation orders regardless of whether they move or not. And, those who leave must have enough time to do so, as well as a safe route and safe places."

Lebanon-Israel tensions 

Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border continues to escalate, as a Hezbollah member was killed on Wednesday and three others injured in an Israeli air strike on southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua.

The military sources, who spoke anonymously, said the Hezbollah member was killed in the air strike carried out by an Israeli drone on a car traveling on the Damascus-Beirut Road.

"A Lebanese civil defense vehicle transported the body of the Hezbollah killed member, named Mohammed Hassan Taha, to a hospital in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek," said the sources.

In a separate attack, an Israeli warplane targeted a house in the southeast village of Adaisseh, wounding two civilians, who were transferred to the hospital in the city of Nabatieh.

A third civilian suffocated in the village of Khiam as a result of inhaling smoke from Israeli phosphorus shells that targeted his village, and was transferred by a Lebanese Red Cross vehicle to the hospital, according to military sources.

"Israeli drones and warplanes launched eight air strikes on Hezbollah sites in forested areas east of Lebanon and on towns in the border area in the south," added the sources.

Hezbollah said in a statement that its fighters attacked Israeli sites "in the settlements of Al-Manara, Bayad, Blida, Ruwaisat Al-Alam, and Al-Samaqa."

(With input from agencies)