Israel yesterday launched raids across the occupied West Bank, in which its forces killed at least nine Palestinians and sealed off the volatile city of Jenin, Palestinian officials said.
Israel has carried out near-daily raids across the West Bank since Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 last year triggered the ongoing war.
Palestinian militant groups said they were exchanging fire with the Israeli military.
Photo: AFP
Jenin Governor 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 Israeli military confirmed it was operating in the West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarem, but did not provide further details.
At least 652 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli fire since the war in Gaza began more than 10 months ago, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.
Most have died during such raids, which often trigger clashes with militants.
Israel said the operations are required to dismantle Hamas and other militant groups, and to prevent attacks on Israelis, which have also risen since the start of the war.
The Palestinian ministry said the bodies of seven people were taken to the hospital in Tubas, another West Bank city, and another two were taken to the hospital in Jenin.
The ministry identified two killed in Jenin as Qassam Jabarin, 25, and Asem Balout, 39.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War. The Palestinians want all three for a future state.
Israel has built scores of settlements across the West Bank, which are home to more than 500,000 Jewish settlers. They have Israeli citizenship, while the 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited control over population centers.
The war in Gaza erupted on Oct. 7 last year when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel and rampaged through army bases and farming communities, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250.
The militants are still holding about 110 hostages, about one-third of whom are believed to be dead, after most of the rest were released during a ceasefire in November last year.
Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian ministry, which does not say how many were militants.
About 90 percent of Gaza’s population has been displaced, often multiple times, and Israeli bombardment and ground operations have caused vast destruction.
Israeli strikes in Gaza overnight and into yesterday killed at least 16 people, including five women and three children. Most of the strikes were in or near the southern city of Khan Younis, which has come under heavy bombardment over the past two months.
Associated Press reporters at two hospitals confirmed the toll.
The US, Qatar and Egypt have spent months trying to mediate a ceasefire that would see the remaining hostages released. However, the talks have repeatedly bogged down as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed “total victory” over Hamas and the militant group has demanded a lasting ceasefire and a full withdrawal from the territory.
There was no sign of a breakthrough after days of talks in Egypt, and the negotiations move to Qatar this week.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to