West Bank death toll rises to 18 as Israel continues major assault

Israeli forces continued a large-scale military attack for a second day on Palestinian towns and cities in the northern West Bank on Thursday.

They are carrying on with an assault on the cities and refugee camps of Jenin and Tulkarem while destroying infrastructure and surrounding hospitals.

On Thursday, they said that they killed Mohammed Jaber, widely known as Abu Shujaa, the leader of the Tulkarm Brigade at the Nur Shams refugee camp on the outskirts of Tulkarm.

The Tulkarm Brigade is affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad faction.

The Israeli army claimed he was killed along with four other fighters in a shootout after they were found hiding in a mosque.

The death toll from two days of large-scale Israeli attacks across the West Bank has now risen to 18.

The head of the Popular Committee for Services in Nur Shams Camp, Nihad Al-Shawish, told The New Arab's sister-site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the army had intensively deployed their forces, while local people have not been able to leave their homes.

Israeli media said on Wednesday that approximately 1000 soldiers were taking part in the assault on the West Bank.

Images and videos shared online have shown Israeli bulldozers causing significant damage to infrastructure and roads, and that there had been power cuts in large parts of Jenin. Forces are also blocking ambulances from tending to those injured.

There were also reports of a total Internet blackout in Jenin.

Hospitals have also been besieged, including the Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital and Al-Isra Hospital in Tulkarm.

The Israeli assault marks a major escalation in ongoing Israeli attacks in the West Bank since 7 October, which have seen at least 640 Palestinians killed and over 10,000 detained.

At least 25 Palestinians were arrested in the West Bank on Thursday, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club NGO.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that Israel would deal with the "terror threat" posed by armed Palestinian groups exactly the same way as it was dealing with the situation in Gaza, adding that this would involve the "temporary evacuation" of Palestinian civilians.

Israel’s brutal and indiscriminate war on Gaza has killed at least 40,602 people and utterly devastated the territory, displacing over 90 percent of the population. Israel has faced widespread accusations of genocide as a result.

Amnesty International has condemned the new Israeli assault, with Senior Director Erika Guevara Rosas saying: "It is likely that these operations will result in an increase in forced displacement, destruction of critical infrastructure and measures of collective punishment."