At least nine Palestinians killed in large-scale attack on the West Bank

At least nine Palestinians were killed overnight after Israel carried out a major attack in the West Bank, local health authorities said.

The Israeli military said on social media that it was conducting counter-terror operations in Tulkarm and Jenin, as well as other areas in the region. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz confirmed on Wednesday that the country's military had carried out the operation to combat terrorist groups and suggested that some residents may have to be evacuated.

“The [Israeli military] “Since last night, Iran has been working with all its might in the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps to dismantle the Iranian-Islamic terror infrastructure established there,” Katz said on the social platform X. “Iran is working to build an eastern terror front against Israel in Judea and Samaria, modeled on Gaza and Lebanon, by financing and arming terrorists and smuggling sophisticated weapons from Jordan.”

“We must confront this threat with the same determination that we use against the terror infrastructure in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and all necessary measures,” he added. “This is a war and we must win it.”

The Israeli military has carried out frequent raids in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since the October 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant Hamas that sparked the war in the region. In the overnight raid, Israeli forces cordoned off the main hospital in Jenin, according to local health authorities – a method to ensure the militants could not seek refuge, Reuters reported.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, wrote on X that the expansion of the operation in both West Bank cities was a result of increased terrorist activities, which he said threatened the lives of both Israelis and Palestinians in the region.

“Our troops are currently deployed in the Jenin and Tulkarm areas conducting intelligence-led counter-terrorism operations to prevent further attacks on civilians,” Shoshani said.

The Palestinian state news agency WAFA said Israel had imposed a curfew in the eastern Jenin region and the military had already conducted field interrogations.

According to the United Nations, more than 600 Palestinians were killed and over 1,400 buildings destroyed in the West Bank.

In its first attack last fall, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and took around 250 hostages. Since then, the Israeli military operation in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, although the count does not distinguish between civilians and fighters.

The latest raid came as the United States and its partners in the region sought to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that would lead to the release of the remaining hostages.