Israeli drone strike kills two in expanding occupied West Bank operation | Israel-Palestine Conflict News
The Israeli attack on the vehicle near Qabatiya comes amid an ongoing assault on nearby Jenin, which has displaced thousands.
An Israeli drone strike on a vehicle near the occupied West Bank town of Qabatiya killed two people, the Palestinian health ministry said on the fourth day a A large-scale Israeli operation in the nearby city of Jenin.
Israel’s military said an airstrike on Friday in Jenin’s Gumura hit a vehicle with what it said was a “terrorist cell” inside, but gave no further details.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that the drone strike occurred shortly before Israeli forces broke into Qabatiya and began “conducting operations.”
The airstrike coincided with an ongoing military operation against Palestinian fighters in Jenin and its neighboring refugee camp, which has already left 14 Palestinians dead and around 50 others injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah.
The Israeli military also announced the arrests of 20 people it considered “wanted suspects” and said it had seized weapons.
In addition to the loss of life, the operation in the northern West Bank – launched just two days after a ceasefire was agreed between Israel and Hamas in Gaza – has caused widespread destruction.
Israeli armored bulldozers and diggers demolished houses and dug up roads in the Jenin area and forced a shift of about 2,000 families.
A United Nations spokesman on Friday warned of a “deteriorating” situation in the West Bank and called on Israel to protect the Palestinians.
During a media briefing, Farhan Haq said that the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) “repeatedly warns that lethal, war-like tactics are being used, raising concerns about the use of force that exceeds law enforcement standards.”
Earlier, Thameen al-Kheetan, a spokesman for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed serious concerns about the use of disproportionate and unlawful force in Jenin, warning of the potential for widespread human rights violations.
Al-Kheetan stressed the responsibility of the international community to hold Israel accountable for these actions.
