Israeli army expands assault in occupied West Bank

RAMALLAH, Palestine

The Israeli army staged several raids in the northern West Bank on Monday in an expansion of its ongoing military assault in the occupied territory, witnesses said.

Army forces, escorted by bulldozers, destroyed several facilities and infrastructure in the town of Burqin, southwest of Jenin city, they said.

The Israeli army also sent military reinforcements into Qabatiya town, where several shops were destroyed and homes searched, the witnesses said.

Military raids were also reported in several areas in Nablus city amid reports of arrests.

The Israeli army deployed tanks in the Jenin refugee camp on Sunday, in the first such move since 2002.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday that army forces plan to stay “for the next year” in the Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank.

The army has been conducting military operations in the northern West Bank since last month, killing at least 61 people and displacing thousands.

The raids were the latest in Israel’s ongoing military escalation in the West Bank where at least 923 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since the start of the onslaught against the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The International Court of Justice declared in July that Israel’s long-standing occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal, demanding the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar