The Israeli military said on Wednesday that an unusually wide-scale operation in the northern part of the occupied West Bank had only just begun as Israeli troops raided two major Palestinian cities there in an effort to crush militant groups.
“We are in the first stages of this operation,” Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, told a news briefing.
Israeli forces launched the unusually large military raids, focusing on the cities, Jenin and Tulkarm, after months during which Palestinian militants resisted Israeli efforts to subdue them in the territory.
Both cities have seen deadly battles between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants. Colonel Shoshani said that more than 150 “shooting and explosive attacks” against Israelis had originated in the two cities over the past year, including an attempted bombing in mid-August in the coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv.
Since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks prompted full-blown war in Gaza, Israeli forces have stepped up raids in the West Bank, targeting what it says are Hamas and allied groups. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed, including both militants and civilians; at least 4,500 have been arrested, according to the Israeli military.
In the operation announced on Wednesday, nine militants were killed, the Israeli military said; Colonel Shoshani said that at least seven had been killed in aerial attacks. The West Bank once rarely saw bombardments by Israeli drones, but they, too, have become commonplace since Oct. 7.
Another Israeli security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that roughly hundreds of soldiers were participating in the operation. In Jenin, Israeli forces deployed near a major hospital, stoking fears that they might raid it. Colonel Shoshani argued that the military was trying to prevent the hospital from becoming a haven for militants.
Israeli officials have long said that militants have planted improvised explosive devices in an attempt to blow up Israeli soldiers as they drive along roads in Palestinian towns. Colonel Shoshani said that Israeli troops had worked overnight to disarm the explosives, deploying combat engineers specialized in dismantling them.
During another major raid in Jenin last year, scores of Palestinians fled their homes temporarily as Israeli troops pursued people suspected of being militants. Colonel Shoshani said there were currently no plans to order the evacuation of residents. Earlier, Israel’s foreign minister had raised the prospect of temporarily ordering residents to evacuate as the military operation goes on.
“If people wish to leave, they can leave,” Colonel Shoshani told reporters. “But I am not aware of a plan of evacuation or something like that.”
Patrick Kingsley contributed reporting.
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