Israeli occupying forces struck targets in the West Bank, killing at least five Palestinians and wounding 45 others, officials said.
During the clashes, Palestinians resistance fighters detonated a roadside bomb next to an Israeli military vehicle. The Israeli military have commented that seven members of paramilitary border police and the army suffered injuries.
The Israeli military have claimed that troops came under a massive exchange of fire during an arrest raid in Jenin and shot back at Palestinian gunmen. Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht said that army had flooded the area with troops in order to extract personnel pinned down in five disabled vehicles at the scene, describing it as an “evacuation” operation.
A senior Palestinian official, accused Israel of waging “a fierce and open war” against the Palestinian people. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry condemned what it called Israel’s “continued escalation against the Palestinians,” saying it only further inflamed the situation and undermined efforts to reduce regional tensions. Some 124 Palestinians have already been killed this year.
This comes after Israel’s government on Sunday granted ultra-right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich authority over planning in the occupied West Bank and lifted red tape on the settlement housing approval process. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli government’s decision. And called upon the international community to pressure Israel “to take the necessary practical steps to force the Israeli government to stop its illegal unilateral measures.”
Israel’s Peace Now anti-settlement watchdog group criticised the decision for “disregarding security and political considerations and perpetuating de facto annexation in the West Bank.”
