The Israeli military has called in reinforcements as it escalated its assault on the occupied West Bank for a second day.
At least 18 people have been killed since the start of the operation in the north of the territory, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Thursday.
Eight people were killed in the Jenin governorate, six in Tulkarem and four in Tubas, while dozens more have been injured.
At least 20 Palestinians, including children, have so far been imprisoned by Israeli forces, according to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, who warned on Thursday that the number could rise as the raids continue.
In Tulkarem’s Nur Shams refugee camp, the Israeli military claimed on Thursday that it had killed five Palestinian fighters who were hiding in a mosque.
Among them was the commander of the Tulkarem Battalion, Mohamed Jaber, also known as Abu Shuja’a, it said. The military said Abu Shuja’a had directed the shooting and killing of an Israeli man in Qalqilya in June.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group confirmed the death of Abu Shuja’a and the other fighters, saying in a statement that they were killed “after a heroic battle against the soldiers of the [Israeli] occupation”.
Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the PIJ, later said that it targeted an Israeli infantry force in Tulkarem with an explosive device and a “hail of bullets” in response to the killing of Abu Shuja’a. The Jenin Battalion of the group also claimed a similar attack later on Thursday.
Wafa reported that Israeli troops burned down several homes and inflicted “extensive destruction” on civilian infrastructure in the Nur Shams camp.
The Israeli raids started on Wednesday in the areas of Jenin, Tulkarem and the Far’a refugee camp near Tubas in the largest assault there in 20 years as the military claims to be targeting “armed terrorists who posed a threat to security forces”.
Reporting from Tulkarem, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim said while the Israeli military has been launching daily attacks on the territory “this one is on a different scale” as its forces “have raided four refugee camps at the same time”.
“There is a lot of fear and anxiety among residents,” she said.
Late on Wednesday, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres called for an “immediate cessation” of Israeli military operations in the West Bank.
Guterres also urged Israel to comply with international humanitarian law and to “protect civilians and ensure their safety”.
But the Israeli operations widened overnight to the south of Bethlehem, the Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron, Nablus city, and the village of Nabi Saleh, northwest of Ramallah, according to Wafa.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that since Israel’s war on Gaza began on October 7, 136 Palestinians have been killed and 41 injured in Israeli air strikes.
All of the killings, except one, occurred in the occupied West Bank’s northern governorates.
In total, more than 640 Palestinians have been killed in attacks by the Israeli army and violent settlers in the West Bank during the same period, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
In a statement, Amnesty International condemned Israel’s military assault as a “horrifying spike in lethal force”.
“It is likely that these operations will result in an increase in forced displacement, destruction of critical infrastructure and measures of collective punishment, which have been key pillars of Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians and of its unlawful occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty’s senior director for research, advocacy, policy and campaigns.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz had on Wednesday already suggested the forced displacement of Palestinians.
He wrote on X that addressing the threat of “terror infrastructures ” in the Jenin and Tulkarem refugee camps by all necessary means includes “intense combat” and “in some cases … allowing the population to temporarily evacuate from one neighbourhood to another within the refugee camp”.
Israel’s temporary evacuation orders have been repeatedly used in Gaza, displacing tens of thousands of people to so-called “humanitarian safe zones” which are then attacked by the military.
Palestinian rights groups, including the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Al-Haq, and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, warned on Thursday of Israeli tactics in the territory that “mirror” those used in “Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza”.
Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim reported that West Bank residents had stopped repairing the damage caused by the Israeli raids “as the intervals between reconstructions and subsequent attacks are short, leaving them vulnerable to new assaults”.
She said that “many feel that Israeli forces are executing a strategy to remind the people of their ultimate power and control over every aspect of their lives”.
