Israeli troops on day four of deadly West Bank raid / Photo: © AFP
Israeli troops on day four of deadly West Bank raid
Israel pressed on with a large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank against Palestinian militants for a fourth day Saturday, as fierce fighting raged in the nearly 11-month Gaza war.
Despite the clashes in Gaza, a local health official in the Hamas-run territory said polio vaccinations had begun there.
The World Health Organization says Israel has agreed to a series of three-day "humanitarian pauses" to facilitate a mass vaccination campaign after the first confirmed case in Gaza in 25 years, although officials had said it was expected to begin on Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that the pauses are "not a ceasefire".
As clashes and explosions persisted in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Israel's military said two Palestinians were killed while preparing to carry out separate bombings overnight in the southern West Bank.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel sparked the Gaza war, hailed the twin attacks as a "heroic operation".
Hamas ally Islamic Jihad, which has a strong presence in the northern West Bank, said it "congratulates" those involved in what it called a "coordinated attack".
The Israeli army described a vehicle explosion at a petrol station in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc as "an attempted car bombing by a terrorist" who was later killed.
An army officer "was moderately injured, and a reservist officer responsible for the security in a nearby community sustained minor injuries", it said in a statement.
In the second incident, the head of security in the Israeli settlement of Karmei Zur engaged in a car chase with a "terrorist" who had infiltrated the settlement compound, leading to a collision and "the terrorist being neutralised shortly after", the statement said.
"During the confrontation, an explosive device in the terrorist's car detonated," it added.
- Bodies pulled from rubble -
At least 20 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army since Wednesday in simultaneous raids in several cities across the northern West Bank.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad have said at least 13 of the dead were members of their armed wings.
Since Friday, soldiers have concentrated their operations on the city of Jenin and its refugee camps, long a bastion of Palestinian armed groups fighting against Israel.
On Saturday morning, an AFP photographer in Jenin heard ongoing clashes in the city, where the streets were mostly empty save for armoured vehicles, including one that blocked access to the government hospital.
"I think it's the worst day since the start of the raid... We hear from time to time clashes and sometimes there is big bombing," said hospital director Wisam Bakr.
Water and electricity were cut off from the hospital during the raid, forcing it to rely on a generator and water tank, he told AFP.
Violence has surged in the West Bank since Hamas's October 7 attack.
The United Nations said Wednesday that at least 637 Palestinians had been killed in the territory by Israeli troops or settlers since the Gaza war began.
Nineteen Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during army operations over the same period, according to Israeli official figures.
Among those killed since Wednesday were an 82-year-old man, said the Palestinian news agency Wafa, and two teenagers, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, which said another 55 had been wounded.
Britain, France and Spain expressed concerns about Israel's West Bank operation, with Madrid denouncing "an outbreak of violence which is clearly unacceptable".
- Hezbollah drones -
In Gaza, Israel pushed on with its deadly offensive in response to Hamas's October 7 attack.
Gaza's civil defence agency said rescuers had pulled 29 bodies from the rubble since dawn and transported dozens of wounded to hospitals across the devastated territory.
On Friday, a medical source at the southern Nasser Hospital said an Israeli strike killed three people near the southern city of Khan Yunis.
Israeli shelling in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza killed two people on the same day, the civil defence agency said.
The fighting has devastated Gaza, repeatedly displaced most of its 2.4 million people and triggered a humanitarian crisis.
Hamas's October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Palestinian militants also seized 251 hostages, 103 of whom are still captive in Gaza including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
The war has drawn in Iran-backed groups from around the region and raised fears of a wider conflict.
On Saturday, Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it had launched "explosives-laden drones" at Israel's Beit Hillel barracks "in response" to Israeli attacks.
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