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Israel Embarks on an ‘Extensive’ Military Operation in the West Bank
The announcement came shortly after President Trump rescinded Biden-era sanctions on Israeli settlers and Jewish extremists raided Palestinian villages in protest against the cease-fire in Gaza.
Israeli security forces on Tuesday embarked on a military operation in Jenin, a Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that has become a hotbed of militancy, just days after a temporary cease-fire took hold in Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in a statement that the operation was aimed at “eradicating terrorism” and would be “extensive and significant.” The Palestinian Authority’s health ministry reported that six people had been killed and at least 35 injured during the first two hours of the operation.
It comes amid sharply rising tensions in the West Bank, where militants have grown in power and settler violence against Palestinian civilians has soared.
On Monday, President Trump rescinded sanctions imposed by the Biden administration on dozens of far-right Israeli individuals and settler groups accused of violence against Palestinians and the seizure or destruction of Palestinian property.
The move came shortly after Mr. Trump took office, even as Jewish extremists raided several Palestinian villages, setting fire to vehicles and properties, according to Palestinian officials and the Israeli military.
The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited control over parts of the West Bank, has been carrying out its own operation against armed militants in Jenin in recent weeks after largely leaving security in the area to Israel. The Israeli military has carried out deadly raids and drone strikes in the northern West Bank over the past year targeting armed Palestinian militants. The raids have chewed up streets and left many Palestinian civilians in fear.
Residents and witnesses in Jenin said on Tuesday that a local private hospital, Al-Amal, was surrounded by Israeli forces and had come under fire.
“It’s as if they came to us straight from Gaza with large vehicles, aggressive gunfire and drones,” said Kamila Mahmoud, 22, a resident of Jenin, in a telephone interview.
Residents said that Palestinian Authority security officers and medics were among the injured.
Presaging the raid in Jenin, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Israel’s military chief, said in a statement on Monday, the day after the cease-fire in Gaza came into effect, that Israel “must be ready for significant counterterrorism operations” in the West Bank in the coming days “to pre-empt and apprehend the terrorists before they reach our civilians.”
Nearly half a million settlers and roughly 2.7 million Palestinians live in the West Bank. The Palestinians, and much of the world, have long envisioned the territory as part of a future independent Palestinian state, alongside Israel, and consider the Jewish settlements to be illegal.
Mr. Trump’s administration is expected to be staunchly pro-Israel, though he has sent mixed signals. Some settler leaders have nurtured close ties with Mr. Trump’s associates over the years, including Mike Huckabee, Mr. Trump’s pick as the next ambassador to Jerusalem.
The cancellation of the sanctions was one of a long list of executive orders that Mr. Trump signed immediately after his inauguration. Palestinian officials strongly criticized the move, saying it was likely to encourage further violence.
Hard-line members of Israel’s right-wing government and settler leaders had been requesting the removal of the sanctions, which then-President Biden imposed under an executive order he signed almost a year ago.
The cancellation coincided with a second consecutive night of violence in the West Bank as extremist settlers protested the cease-fire in Gaza, that ushered in a period of calm there after 15 months of war prompted by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault on Israel.
Far-right members of Mr. Netanyahu’s government oppose the cease-fire, the first phase of which calls for a six-week truce and weekly exchanges of a total of 33 hostages held in Gaza for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The details of the deal’s second phase have yet to be negotiated, but it calls for the temporary cease-fire to become permanent and for a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.The Israeli far-right opposes a cessation of the war in Gaza until Hamas has been eliminated and wants the Israeli military to remain in the Palestinian enclave to pave the way for future Jewish settlement there.
Pressure from Mr. Trump and his envoy, Steve Witkoff, was instrumental in helping seal the deal between Israel and Hamas, as were Biden administration officials who had long spent months negotiating it and other mediators. Mr. Trump had warned that there would be “all hell to pay” if Israeli hostages were not released by his inauguration.
But asked on Monday if he thought the cease-fire in Gaza would hold, Mr. Trump said that he was “not confident” and signaled a lack of interest in the conflict.
“That’s not our war. It’s their war,” he said, adding “but I think they’re very weakened on the other side,” apparently referring to Hamas.
Settler extremists have been trying to destabilize the West Bank and said they would try to block Palestinian prisoners released under the terms of the deal from returning to their homes.
One of the Palestinian towns that came under settler attack on Monday was Al-Funduq, in the northern West Bank, where Palestinian gunmen who are believed to have come from another town shot at a civilian bus and cars, killing three Israelis earlier this month.
Louay Tayem, the mayor of Al-Funduq, said that dozens of Israeli settlers began raiding the village, as well as neighboring Jinsafut, at around 9:15 p.m. on Monday and that the assault continued for roughly three hours before the settlers were finally dispersed by Israeli security forces. They smashed car windows, torched a plant nursery and two bulldozers, and attempted to set a house on fire, he said in a phone interview.
Two Israeli men were shot and seriously wounded during one of the assaults on Monday, according to Israel’s emergency services, apparently by Israeli security forces who came under attack. The Israeli authorities said they are investigating.
Aaron Boxerman and Myra Noveck contributed reporting from Jerusalem and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad from Haifa, Israel.
Isabel Kershner, a Times correspondent in Jerusalem, has been reporting on Israeli and Palestinian affairs since 1990. More about Isabel Kershner
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