Image credit: AFP
* lsraeli forces have killed three Palestinians in Tulkarem and one in Far’a amid ongoing military operations in the West Bank.
According to media reports, Israeli forces killed four Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as the largest military operation in the territory since the early 2000s entered its third week.
The Wafa news agency reported that three people were killed in a drone strike targeting a vehicle in the city of Tulkarem on Wednesday evening, while another was killed by an Israeli sniper in the Far’a refugee camp near Tubas.
According to the Wafa news agency, an Israeli drone attack in Tulkarem set fire to a vehicle and a nearby home. In the Far’a refugee camp, an Israeli sniper killed 46-year-old Sufyan Jawad Fayez Abdul Jawad with a shot to the heart, the agency reported.
There has been no immediate comment from Israeli authorities on the incidents.
These killings bring the death toll from Israel’s large-scale military operation in the West Bank, which began on August 28, to at least 50. Earlier on Wednesday, five people were killed in an airstrike on Tubas.Israel’s offensive against Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank is taking place alongside continued bombardment of the Gaza Strip, where Israeli strikes have killed over 41,000 Palestinians since October 7.
The military operation in the West Bank is mainly concentrated in the northern areas of Tulkarem, Tubas, and Jenin. According to the United Nations, the operation has displaced hundreds of residents and caused significant damage to roads, water supplies, and sewerage networks.
In the Jenin governorate, where Israeli forces recently withdrew following a 10-day operation characterized by “lethal, war-like tactics,” at least 21 Palestinians were killed and many others wounded, as reported by Wafa and the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
OCHA’s latest update on the humanitarian conditions in the occupied West Bank indicated that the Israeli operation in Jenin displaced 1,000 families. While most have since returned to their homes, at least 297 individuals, including 102 children, remain displaced due to the destruction of their residences by Israeli forces.
Additionally, Israeli forces demolished 70 percent of the roads in Jenin city, along with underlying water and sewage infrastructure, which has severely disrupted safe movement and access to essential services such as water, sanitation, healthcare, education, and markets, according to OCHA.
Due to the destruction, the water supply has been cut off for about 35,000 residents of the camp and its surrounding neighborhoods since August 28, according to the report.
Similar destruction occurred in the Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps in the Tulkarem governorate, where at least 12 people have been killed. OCHA reported that approximately 327 Palestinians, including 123 children, remain displaced in these camps after Israeli forces damaged 400 homes, with 61 of them rendered uninhabitable.
Over 2.6 kilometers of water and sewage networks in the camps were also bulldozed, cutting off water access to roughly 33,000 people and causing sewage overflows, OCHA added.
As Israeli operations continued in the West Bank, the military reported a ramming attack east of Ramallah on Wednesday. According to their statement, the driver of a “Palestinian truck” drove towards Israeli troops and was “neutralized.” An Israeli soldier was killed in the incident, and the condition of the suspected assailant remains unclear.
