The Israeli army announced on Tuesday that it has launched an anti-terrorist operation in the Palestinian city of Jenin on the West Bank, which has become a haven for militants.
He did not give further details, but the new raid came amid rising tensions in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority, which usually leaves security in the region to Israel, is conducting an unusual public crackdown on militants in the Israeli-occupied territories.
Jewish extremists raided several Palestinian villages in the West Bank on Monday night, hours after President Trump lifted sanctions imposed by the Biden administration on dozens of Israelis and far-right settlement groups accused of violence against Palestinians.
The lifting of sanctions was one of them a long list of executive orders signed by Mr. Trump immediately after the swearing-in ceremony. Palestinian officials strongly criticized the move, saying it would fuel more violence. Hard-line members of Israel's right-wing government and leaders of the Jewish settlement movement in the West Bank demanded the lifting of sanctions imposed under an executive order signed by then-President Biden nearly a year ago.
Some settlement leaders have developed close ties to Mr. Trump's associates over the years, including Mike HuckabeeMr. Trump's pick to be the next ambassador to Jerusalem.
The lifting of sanctions came after a second straight night of violence in the West Bank as extremist settlers protested a cease-fire in Gaza that took effect on Sunday and ushered in a period of calm after the ongoing war on October 15. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks Israel. Palestinian officials and the Israeli military said the attackers set cars and property on fire.
Far-right members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and their supporters oppose the ceasefire, which calls for an initial six-week ceasefire and the weekly exchange of 33 hostages with hundreds held in Gaza. Palestinian prisoners.
The details of the second phase of the agreement have not yet been negotiated, but it calls for the temporary ceasefire to be permanent and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
Violence in the West Bank has increased sharply since the October 7 attack. This was caused by the growing strength of militants in the West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarm A deadly series of Israeli raids and drone strikesDevastation of Palestinian neighborhoods.
Israeli soldiers have been seizing neighborhoods for days, looking for people who claim to be militants like bulldozers. chewing on the roads looking for explosives. Israel's military says its soldiers have been forced to carry out deadly raids to quell the militants.