Closing summary
Here’s a recap of the main developments:
The US added new individuals and organisations to a growing sanctions list on Wednesday aimed at targeting violent Israeli settlers. “Extremist settler violence in the West Bank causes intense human suffering, harms Israel’s security, and undermines the prospect for peace and stability in the region,” a US state department statement announcing the latest sanctions.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed at least 10 Palestinians in the West Bank in overnight raids and airstrikes. Palestinian health authorities said 10 people were killed in the Jenin and Tubas areas of the West Bank, and gun battles were reported to be continuing on Wednesday morning. At least 652 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli fire since the war in Gaza began nearly 11 months ago, according to Palestinian health officials.
Israel said the overnight IDF raids in the West Bank were intended to contain attacks on Israelis using Iranian-supplied arms. The escalation of Israeli military operations reflect growing Israeli unease that the occupied territory is emerging as an increasingly significant third front as its forces battle in Gaza and on the northern border.
A Palestinian Authority spokesperson said the escalation of Israeli military operations, at the same time as the war in Gaza, would “lead to dire and dangerous results”. Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative party, said the IDF operation in the West Bank was a “unilateral declaration of war”.
The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia to return to Ramallah following the launch of a large scale Israeli military operation in the West Bank. Abbas began an official visit to Saudi Arabia on Monday where he held talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh.
At least 34 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday as Israeli forces sent tanks deeper into Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip and launched strikes, according to medics. Residents of Khan Younis said Israeli tanks made a surprise advance into the centre of the city, and the military ordered evacuations in the east, forcing many families to run for safety, while others were trapped at home.
At least 40,534 Palestinians have been killed and 93,778 wounded in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, health authorities said on Wednesday.
Israeli, American, Egyptian and Qatari negotiators met in Doha on Wednesday for “technical/working level” talks on a ceasefire in Gaza. The deputy CIA director, David Cohen, said the fate of a ceasefire deal is “largely a question that is going to be answered” by the leader of the Palestinian militant group, but he did not refer to Hamas’ leader, Yahya Sinwar, by name.
An Israeli drone strike on a car crossing through a Syrian checkpoint near the border with Lebanon on Wednesday killed three Palestinian fighters and one member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, according to Reuters. Local Syrian reports said that a car was targeted on Wednesday morning on the road between the Syrian capital Damascus and Lebanon’s capital Beirut, and four people were killed.
A member of Israel’s Bedouin minority who was rescued after being held hostage by Hamas has been released from hospital and returned home, according to Israeli media reports.
Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative party, said the Israeli military operation in the West Bank is a “unilateral declaration of war”.
“They are trying to imitate what is happening in Gaza,” Barghouti told the Telegraph.
Power and water supplies are destroyed, houses are being destroyed. The operation is expanding and they will expand it even further.
