Israeli army launches new operation in West Bank

Israel's military launched a new operation against Palestinian armed groups in the occupied West Bank, where a local governor told AFP that Israeli forces had raided several towns. Photo / Zain Jaafar, AFP

Israel’s military has launched a new operation against Palestinian armed groups in the occupied West Bank, where a governor told AFP that Israeli forces had raided several towns.

The Israeli military, police and internal security service said they had begun “a broad counter-terrorism operation” in the north of the Palestinian territory after they received intelligence about “attempts to establish terrorist strongholds”.

The military said the operation began with airstrikes to isolate the area, followed by searches on the ground, during which suspects were questioned and funds confiscated.

The Israeli army confirmed to AFP that it was a new operation, and not part of the one launched in January 2025, which primarily targeted Palestinian refugee camps in the northern West Bank.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.

The operation, which began overnight, was in predominantly agricultural Tubas, the northeasternmost of 11 governorates in the West Bank.

Tubas governor Ahmed al-Asaad told AFP: “This is the first time that the entire governorate is included – the whole governorate is now under Israeli army operations.”

Asaad said Israeli forces raided the towns of Tammun and Tayasir, and the Al-Faraa Palestinian refugee camp.

“The army has closed the city entrances with earth mounds, so there is no movement at all,” he added.

He told AFP that an Apache helicopter was involved in the operation, and said it had fired in the direction of residential areas.

“This is a political operation, not a security one,” he said.

Injuries reported

An AFP photographer saw soldiers walking around inside Tubas city, with a few armoured cars driving through and a surveillance aerial vehicle overhead. Most shops were closed.

The road entrance to nearby Tammun had been closed off by a military vehicle.

An ambulance was allowed to go through but citizens were not. Armoured cars were driving around at the scene.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its teams in the governorate had treated 10 injured people, four of whom had to be transferred to hospital.

It added that some of its teams were “facing obstruction in transporting patients in the city of Tubas and the town of Tammun since dawn”, and were still responding to calls for help after the raids.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two Palestinian militant groups proscribed as terror organisations by many countries, condemned the Israeli operation.

Hamas said it was part of a policy “aimed at crushing any Palestinian presence to achieve complete control over the West Bank”.

Violence in the West Bank has soared since Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war, and has not ceased despite the fragile truce between Israel and Hamas coming into effect last month.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed more than 1000 Palestinians, many of them militants, but also scores of civilians, in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.

At least 44 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations, according to official Israeli figures.

- Agence France-Presse