Israel pressed on with a large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank for a fourth day on Saturday, as fierce fighting raged in the nearly 11-month Gaza war.
As clashes and explosions persisted in the northern city of Jenin, the Israeli military said two Palestinians were killed while preparing to carry out bombings overnight in the south of the West Bank.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel sparked the Gaza war, hailed a “heroic operation” at what it called a “sensitive time” during the Israeli operations in the north.
Hamas ally Islamic Jihad, which has a strong presence in the northern West Bank, similarly said it “congratulates” the perpetrators of 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.
At least 20 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army since Wednesday, most of them militants, in simultaneous raids in several cities in the northern West Bank.
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 the hospital’s 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.
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