While the war in the Gaza Strip continues in full force, Israel has announced day two of what they call an “anti-terrorist operation” against key members of Hamas’ wing in the West Bank. The UN has condemned the attack. At dawn, Israeli forces raided the Tulkarm refugee camp, part of the occupied area where Palestinians live. There they killed five people they claim are militant terrorists. The five hid inside a mosque. The Israeli army (IDF) wrote it themselves on Telegram. The announcement comes a day after at least nine people were killed in the towns of Jenin, Tubas and Tulkarm on the Vestbreidda. A new phase of the war The launch of what the IDF calls a military operation in the West Bank comes eleven months into the war between Israel and Hamas on the Gaza Strip. The aim should be to prevent terror from Hamas and other Islamist militant groups in the West Bank, writes the IDF. Since the war broke out in Gaza in October 2023, Israel has regularly attacked targets in Tulkarm, especially in the permanent refugee camps Tulkarm and Nur Shams Palestinians who have to leave the refugee camp Nur Shams on Wednesday. Photo: JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP Gaza and the West Bank are the two areas where Palestinian Arabs live, even though the West Bank is occupied by Israel in what the ICJ has determined is contrary to international law. Abdel Karim Delbah, a Palestinian freelance journalist whom news has been in contact with, said on Wednesday that this is one of the biggest invasions in Tulkarm. Early on Thursday morning, special forces are said to have infiltrated the area while snipers positioned themselves on top of nearby buildings, writes Al Jazeera. The Israeli forces are said to have also taken control of two hospitals, Thabet Thabet and al-Israa. At least 22 have been injured and 20 have been arrested on Vestbreidda since Wednesday, writes Al Jazeera. ICJ and Israel on the settlers The International Court of Justice ICJ recently issued a legal assessment on Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and its consequences. The court says, among other things: “There is extensive evidence of Israel’s policy of providing incentives for Israeli persons and businesses to move to the West Bank, in addition to the development of industry and agriculture by the settlers.” “Israel regularly legalizes outposts that have been established in violation of national Israeli law. [ …] The Court believes that through this practice Israel encourages the transfer of parts of its own civilian population to the West Bank, in violation of paragraph 6 of Article 29 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.” The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the following comment on the court’s assessment: “The Jewish people are not occupiers of their own land, including our eternal capital Jerusalem, or in Judea and Samaria, our historic homeland. No absurd judgment from The Hague can undermine this historical truth or the legal right of Israelis to live in their own communities in the land of our forefathers.” Published 29/08/2024, at 09.05
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