The United Nations has sharply criticized Israel for its major military operation in the northern West Bank, accusing the Israeli army of using “deadly warfare tactics.”
People in the area “are increasingly exposed to deadly warfare that appears to exceed international standards for law enforcement,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, said on Wednesday, citing reports from the UN emergency agency OCHA.
“The Israeli Defense Forces must adhere to international policing standards. Lethal force and firearms are the last resort and should only be used in cases of imminent danger of death or serious injury,” Dujarric said.
Israel has launched a large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank, accusing Iran of spreading terrorist infrastructure there. Palestinian health authorities say at least 10 people have been killed so far.
The army deployed numerous infantry, drones and snipers, destroyed infrastructure with bulldozers and blocked all access roads to the city of Jenin, according to media reports. There were exchanges of fire with armed Palestinians and several wanted Palestinians were arrested.
Seven dead were taken to hospital in Tubas in the northern West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Two were killed in Jenin and another in a village near the city.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) surrounded hospitals in both cities and blocked ambulances, Israeli and Palestinian media reported. An IDF spokesman said the army controlled access to the hospital buildings to prevent militants from taking up residence there.
IDF: Military operation due to increased attacks
The deployment was prompted by a recent significant increase in attacks on Israelis reportedly originating in the northern West Bank, the spokesman said, citing the recent detonation of an explosive device in Tel Aviv that killed the attacker and wounded a passerby.
According to Israel, the target of the large-scale operation, particularly in Jenin and Tulkarem, is a terrorist network backed by Iran. Both cities are considered strongholds of Palestinian militants. Since the start of the war in Gaza almost 11 months ago, about 150 attacks with firearms and explosives have been carried out on Israelis from there alone, the IDF spokesman said.
“We must deal with the threat as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and all other steps necessary,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on X.
“This is a war for everything and we must win it.”
The Israeli army spokesman said he was not aware of any plans to evacuate civilians in the northern West Bank.
Report: West Bank operation could last days
The Times of Israel, citing IDF sources, reported that the military operation could last several days. Katz has blamed Iran for the weapons buildup.
He said the army had been working intensively overnight “in the Jenin and Tulkarem refugee camps to disrupt the Islamic and Iranian terrorist infrastructures established there.”
He accused Iran of “working to establish an eastern terrorist front against Israel in the West Bank,” following the example of Gaza and Lebanon, “by financing and arming terrorists and smuggling advanced weapons from Jordan.”
The already tense situation in the occupied West Bank has deteriorated significantly since Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, which left around 1,200 dead and sparked the current war in Gaza.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, more than 630 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since then in Israeli army operations, armed clashes and attacks by extremists.
The UN human rights office in Geneva warned that the large-scale Israeli operation “could seriously aggravate the already dire situation in the West Bank”.
“Many children were killed when they threw stones at the heavily guarded Israeli security forces, as well as other Palestinians who posed no immediate threat to their lives,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the agency, said in a video statement posted on X.
“The use of airstrikes and other military weapons and tactics by the Israeli security services violates human rights norms and standards,” she added.
Gaza ceasefire efforts continue
Meanwhile, fighting in the Gaza Strip continues, as do efforts to reach a ceasefire and free the remaining Hamas hostages.
An Israeli delegation was due to travel to Doha for further talks on an agreement with Hamas. The indirect negotiations, in which Qatar, Egypt and the US mediate between the parties in the conflict, have been stalled for months.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces found the body of another Israeli hostage in the Gaza Strip and returned the former soldier to Israel, the military said.
The family of the man, who was murdered on October 7 last year, has been notified, the report said.
It was initially unclear where exactly the body was found. Soldiers and domestic intelligence officials were involved in the military operation to retrieve the body, the statement added.
According to Israel, Hamas still holds 107 hostages in Gaza, at least a third of whom are said to be dead.
