UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Aug. 29 called for an "immediate cessation" of Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank, saying that the latest "dangerous developments" are "fuelling an already explosive situation" there. The appeal came one day into Israel's new "counter-terrorism operation," the largest in the West Bank since the Second Intifada, with hundreds of troops raiding the city of Jenin and other areas of the territory. At least 14 Palestinians have been killed in the raids, either by air-strikes or gun battles on the ground. In the dark hours of the night, Israeli bulldozers moved into Tulkarm, tearing up roads, followed by an armored convoy. In a raid on a Tulkarm mosque, the IDF said local commander Muhhamad Jabber AKA Abu Shujaa was killed, said to have been a leader of a militant network [8] based in the nearby Nur Shams [9] refugee camp. Air-strikes were also carried out on targets in the town of Tubas. The total now killed on the West Bank since Oct. 7 stands at over 640. (UN News [10], UN News [11], NewsHour [12], The Guardian [13], The Telegraph [14], NBC [15])
The IDF also carried out a drone strike on the Nur Shams camp in the prelude to the new operation, on Aug. 26, with five killed. Palestinian media reported that among the dead was Jibril Jibril, a Hamas militant who was released by Israel in a November deal [16] that saw more than 100 hostages held in Gaza exchanged for 240 Palestinian detainees held by Israel. (ToI [17])
