Israel's deadly raids on occupied West Bank cities targeting Jenin, Nablus, Tubas and Tulkarm continued into Friday, despite international condemnation.
Israeli forces carried out a large-scale raid and arrest campaign at dawn on Friday, surrounding a house in Jenin's Zababdeh town.
Reports state the military aggression included heavy gunfire and the widespread destruction of infrastructure and private facilities.
Israeli forces also stormed the Balata refugee camp in Nablus at dawn, firing live ammunition and tear gas at residents.
Similar raids were reported in Bethlehem, with the Husan village, west of the city and the Al-Matina area, located at the eastern entrance to the village also targeted.
At least 18 people have been killed since the start of the military offensive on Wednesday, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Thursday.
Electricity has been cut off throughout the Jenin camp since the start of the raid, with parts of the Khalid bin al-Walid Mosque in the east of the city also partially destroyed.
The violent raid saw armoured vehicles enter the refugee camps in the cities, with the Israeli military calling it a "counterterrorism" operation.
At least 20 Palestinians, including children, have also been arrested by Israeli forces in the ongoing raids, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said on Thursday, warning the number will likely rise.
'Explosive situation'
The UN has raised concerns the latest Israeli raid was "fuelling an already explosive situation".
The operation has garnered international condemnation, with Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, saying it took place "in close proximity to four hospitals" and some "have been surrounded", preventing medical staff from doing their job.
Guterres also called for an "immediate cessation of these operations," in an official statement from his office.
Palestinian rights groups including Al-Haq, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights and The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights called on the international community to immediately intervene and enact measures against Israel to ensure international laws are being abided by.
"Our organisations warn of even more escalated violence in the West Bank, with the employment of tactics that mirror those used in Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza, particularly attacks on hospitals and healthcare facilities, and the use of excessive and indiscriminate force," a statement from the rights groups read.
The UN humanitarian office OCHA said "Israeli forces have repurposed homes as military positions" and were "effectively besieging" several medical facilities.
Jordan's King Abdullah urged for a ceasefire in Gaza to stop the spread of violence, while Iran’s foreign ministry slammed the raid as a "continuation of the genocide in the Gaza Strip".
Amnesty International said the raid could spill out into much bigger violence if it does not stop.
"Ongoing military operations on this scale will undoubtedly lead to an escalation in deadly violence, resulting in further loss of Palestinian lives", the rights group said in a statement.
"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", the statement continued.
Forced displacement
The aggression in the West Bank has sparked fears of Palestinians being forcibly expelled into Jordan and threatening the status of Jerusalem, a report in The New Arab's Arabic language sister publication, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed states.
Jordanian officials are sensing a lack of stability in the region, with the Jordanian King Abdullah saying earlier this month that the kingdom would "not allow any escalation in the region to be at the expense of Jordanians or Jordan’s security and safety."
Jordan's Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh also addressed the situation on Wednesday, saying that his country's position was "clear and firm in its complete rejection of any measures that would impose a reality linked to any movement of the population outside the Gaza Strip, the West Bank or outside occupied Palestine."
The comments came after Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called for the "temporary evacuation" of Palestinian civilians to carry out an operation.
The ongoing military operation is being described as the largest of its kind since 2002, marking a significant escalation while Israel’s war on Gaza rages on.
Since the start of the war on Gaza, at least 637 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers, the UN said on Wednesday.