Reports indicate that Israeli forces have exited the West Bank city of Jenin, an area they’ve occupied for a decade, following a mission that resulted in approximately 39 deaths, as per the Palestinian health ministry.
As assessed by a Reuters eye-witness, the departure of the Israeli forces has left considerable infrastructural damage. In a social media post, the Palestinian foreign ministry perceived Israel’s actions as a transfer of their destructive tendencies from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. The city conditions and the refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarm appear to substantiate this claim.
According to Al Jazeera, despite the retreat from Jenin, other parts of the West Bank are still being subjected to Israeli invasions, with the village of Husan west of Bethlehem, Beit Tamar east of Bethlehem and the Balata refugee camp east of Nablus being prime targets.
The Palestinians have suffered the loss of 39 individuals along with 140 injuries in Israel’s decade-long endeavour in West Bank as per Palestinian Health officials. It is considered to be the widest operation in the region since 2002. A significant number of the victims were identified as armed combatants but bystanders including a young girl of 16 were not spared either. Alongside the Palestinian victims, one Israeli soldier has lost his life as well.
The invasion forced Médecins Sans Frontières, a medical charity organisation, to halt its operations in Jenin and Tulkarm, criticising the Israeli military for their alleged recurrent attacks on health workers, ambulances, and medical facilities.
Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, stated on Thursday that the responsibility rests with both Hamas and Israel to agree on persisting issues to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza. The negotiation process, which has lasted several months, has been confronted with a number of hurdles along the way. Mr Blinken, during a press conference in Haiti, announced that although 90% of the terms were agreed upon, there were still remaining key issues. These include facets like the much-debated Philadelphi corridor at the Gaza Strip’s southern frontier bordering Egypt.
On Thursday, a statement by the health ministry controlled by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, reported that from October 7th, a minimum of 40,878 Palestinians have lost their lives and another 94,454 have suffered injuries due to the military attacks by Israel. However, these numbers do not take into account those yet to be discovered beneath piles of debris or individuals who have succumbed to treatable ailments resulting from the obliteration of the healthcare system by Israel, according to the Guardian.