Israeli army raids West Bank city, besieges hospitals amid military operation

TULKAREM, Palestine

Israeli army forces raided Tulkarem city on Monday and laid a siege around hospitals there amid a military operation in the northern West Bank, according to witnesses.

Military forces backed by bulldozers moved into the city’s refugee camp and surrounded several hospitals inside amid an exchange of fire with armed Palestinians, the witnesses said.

The raid was part of a large-scale military campaign, the largest in two decades, launched by the army in the northern West Bank last week.

At least 30 Palestinians have been killed since the offensive began amid massive destruction in the area, according to the Health Ministry.

Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank amid a brutal Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 40,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7 last year.

At least 682 Palestinians have since been killed, nearly 5,600 injured and 10,400 others detained in the occupied territory, according to Palestinian figures.

The escalation followed a landmark opinion by the International Court of Justice on July 19 that declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio