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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel launched an offensive in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, with its forces killing at least nine Palestinians and isolating the restive city of Jenin, according to Palestinian officials.
Since Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, triggering the war in the Gaza Strip, Israel has launched attacks in the West Bank almost every day.
Palestinian rebel groups said they were exchanging fire with Israeli forces. Jenin Governor Kamel Abu Rubu told Palestinian Radio that Israeli forces had surrounded the city, blocked entry and exit points and hospital access, and destroyed infrastructure in the countryside.
Israeli troops blocked the road to a hospital with a dirt barrier and surrounded other medical centers in Jenin, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank.
The military confirmed the operations in the West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarem but gave no further details.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz compared the situation in the West Bank to that in Gaza and called for similar measures.
“We must address this threat in the same way we address the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including by temporarily evacuating the Palestinian population and taking any necessary measures. This is a war in every sense of the word and we must win it,” he wrote on the social network X.
Hamas called on Palestinians in the West Bank to rise up and said the attack was part of a broader plan to expand the war in Gaza, while blaming the escalation on U.S. support for Israel. The group called on security forces loyal to the Palestinian Authority — backed by the West and in cooperation with Israel — to “join the holy fight of our people.”
At least 652 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since the Gaza war began more than 10 months ago, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Most of the deaths occurred during such operations, which often spark gun battles with insurgents.
Israel insists the operations are necessary to dismantle Hamas and other insurgent groups and prevent attacks against Israelis, which have also increased since the war began.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, seven bodies were received at a hospital in Tubas, another West Bank city, while two others were transferred to Jenin Hospital, identified as 25-year-old Qassam Jabarin and 39-year-old Asem Balout.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, and Palestinians want to establish the three territories as their future state.
Israel has established dozens of settlements across the West Bank, with more than 500,000 residents. The settlers have Israeli citizenship, while the three million Palestinians in the West Bank live under Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited control over population centers.
The Gaza war began on October 7 as Hamas-led insurgents swept through southern Israel, attacking military bases and farming communities, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 250 hostages. After releasing most of the prisoners during a temporary truce in November, the insurgents still hold about 110 captives, about a third of whom are believed dead.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian victims and combatants. Some 90 percent of the Gaza Strip’s population has been forced to flee their homes, most multiple times, as Israel’s ground and air operations have caused widespread destruction.
Israeli strikes overnight and early Wednesday killed at least 16 people in Gaza, including five women and three minors. Most of the attacks took place in and around the southern city of Khan Yunis, which has been under heavy shelling for the past two months. The death toll was confirmed by The Associated Press at two hospitals.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have been trying for months to broker a ceasefire to free the remaining hostages, but talks have repeatedly stalled, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promising “total victory” over Hamas and the rebel group demanding a lasting ceasefire and full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
After several days of talks in Egypt with no signs of progress, negotiations moved to Qatar this week.
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Associated Press writer Sami Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
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