Israeli military launches major West Bank operation

At least nine Palestinians have been killed in a major operation by Israeli forces in the north of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry says.

Israeli security forces said they had begun “a counterterrorism operation” in Jenin and Tulkarm overnight and that they had so far killed “five armed terrorists from the air and ground”.

It also said another four were killed in an air strike during a simultaneous operation in al-Faraa refuee camp near Tubas.

Local journalists said they had not seen anything of this scope and scale in the West Bank since the days of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, two decades ago. There has been a spike in violence in the West Bank since Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on 7 October and the ensuing war in Gaza.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed as Israeli forces have intensified their raids, saying they are trying to stem deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and Israel.