Israel kills yet more Palestinians during raids in the occupied West Bank

At least 10 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday in Israel’s raids and strikes in the occupied West Bank. The Red Crescent added that 15 other people have been wounded.

Two Palestinians were killed in the city of Jenin, four others in a nearby village, and four more in a refugee camp near the town of Tubas, Red Crescent spokesperson Ahmed Jibril told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Israel’s large scale raid

Middle East Eye reported that Israeli soldiers arrived via helicopter and:

Large numbers of Israeli forces then raided the camps and besieged hospitals, preventing paramedics from reaching them, according to eyewitnesses and the PRCS.

A siege has been imposed on all the three cities – Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas – in the northern West Bank, cutting them off from the rest of the Palestinian territory.

Several Palestinians on the ground told Middle East Eye of the huge scale of Israel’s invasion. Resident Khaled Sobh said:

The situation in the camp is catastrophic and the incursion is the largest it has ever seen.

Ambulances are prohibited from moving. The wounded were smuggled to hospitals because of all these closures.

Khaled also explained how Israel used Palestinian residents as human shields in order to move through the area.

In Jenin, resident Shatha Sabagh said:

The number of military vehicles storming Jenin is very large.

The three main hospitals are besieged and all the streets leading to the city are closed with dirt barriers. We have not witnessed an incursion this extensive for a long time, and it seems that it will continue for several days.

Ethnic cleansing of Palestinians

Al Jazeera spoke to Middle East political analyst Omar Badder who said:

I think the context of it is worth noting, which is the fact that Israel has been intending to annex and ethnically cleanse huge parts of the West Bank for a very, very long time.

Palestinian journalist Hind Khoudary shared:

Palestine from Gaza to the West Bank is bleeding.

— Hind Khoudary (@Hind_Gaza) August 27, 2024

Quds News Network shared footage of destroyed roads:

Israeli occupation forces continue to destroy roads and infrastructure in the refugee camps of Jenin and Nour Shams in the occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/qqggTVo1TD

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) August 28, 2024

Another Palestinian shared further damage to infrastructure:

🚨In the West Bank now:
– Israel is imposing a siege on Jenin Hospital,
– cutting water pipes in Tulkarem,
-settlers are invading the Al Aqsa compound.

This is a full-scale assault on Palestinian lives and sacred sites pic.twitter.com/qBWDsmZUQc

— Lema (@Lemapal) August 28, 2024

Settler colonialism

As the Canary previously reported, the UNRWA has already said it would take up to 15 years to even clear the rubble in Gaza that many bodies are still buried in. Now, Israel’s advance into the West Bank – where Hamas do not operate – further sheds what remaining pretence and falsehoods Israel have maintained about fighting Hamas. As unionist Howard Beckett explained:

Israeli 🇮🇱 blockade of another hospital in readiness for an attack.

This is the Jenin Governmental Hospital in the West Bank 🇵🇸

Hamas are not in the West Bank.

It’s never been ‘defence’.

It’s always been oppression.
It’s always been a land grab.pic.twitter.com/qGHxcI9918

— Howard Beckett (@BeckettUnite) August 28, 2024

Israel’s advance into the West Bank is clearly designed to further devastate Palestinian infrastructure. Israel’s siege of Palestine spans multiple levels of ethnic cleansing – famine, disease, the bombing of designated safe zones, the killing of aid workers, and many more atrocities. Israel cannot be said to be crossing lines or somehow becoming worse. Everything they do is held up by 75 years of siege and torture of Palestinians. Their latest advancements into the West Bank are supported by the crushing weight of decades of attempts at ethnic cleansing.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Channel 4 News