70 martyred in West Bank since start of year, majority from Jenin
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The Israeli occupation has killed 70 people in the occupied West Bank since the start of the year, the majority of whom in Jenin.
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Mourners carry the body of Khalil Al-Saadi, 35, with an Islamic Jihad headband during his funeral at a cemetery in the West Bank Jenin refugee camp, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025 (AP)
The Palestinian Health Ministry announced on Monday that 70 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the beginning of the year, the majority of them from Jenin.
In a statement, the ministry specified that the casualties included 10 children, a woman, and two elderly individuals.
According to the health ministry, 38 have been killed in Jenin, 15 in Tubas, 6 in Nablus, 5 in Tulkarm, 3 in al-Khalil, 2 in Beit Lahm, and 1 in al-Quds.
Meanwhile, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, condemned Israeli actions in the West Bank as "criminal." She warned that "the intent of genocide is clear in the way Israel is targeting Palestinians."
In a post on X on Sunday, Albanese called on the international community to intervene, stating that Israeli destruction has "expanded to all occupied territories, not just Gaza."
The latest escalation follows an Israeli military operation launched in Jenin and its refugee camp on January 21, which resulted in dozens of casualties. Last Monday, Israeli forces expanded their offensive to include Tulkarm in the northern West Bank.
Israeli forces have also destroyed 100 buildings in Jenin over the past two weeks, leaving many families homeless.
Confrontations escalate in Jenin
Jenin's Silat al-Harithiya Brigade, which operates under the al-Quds Brigades, announced fierce confrontations with the Israeli occupation forces across various combat axes in Silat al-Harithiya, wherein its fighters rained volleys of bullets on Israeli infantry forces and military vehicles, achieving direct hits.
The Resistance fighters were also able to detonate a Sijjil improvised explosive device (IED) in a military vehicle on its way to support another Israeli force besieging a house, achieving direct hits. They also planted several Sijjil and KJ37 mines on routes leading to the entry of the city, taken by Israeli vehicles.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, for its part, targeted the IOF with a heavy barrage of gunfire during their raid on the city of Nablus in the West Bank.
The Brigades also announced that their fighters ambushed an Israeli occupation infantry unit inside the Fara'a camp on Sunday, and managed to detonate a high-explosive device, targeting the unit while unleashing a heavy barrage of gunfire at them.
This comes amid the series of raids and attacks carried out by the IOF on multiple cities and camps in the West Bank, which included the storming of the western area of Nablus from the Deir Sharaf checkpoint, the vicinity of al-Ain Camp west of Nablus, and the village of Kafr Malik northeast of Ramallah.
Aggression on Tubas continues
Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation forces continue their military aggression and siege on the Fara'a camp and the town of Tammoun, south of Tubas, for the second consecutive day.
Since the beginning of the raid, the occupation forces have bulldozed roads and infrastructure leading to Fara'a camp, sealed off all its entrances with earth mounds, raided homes in the camp’s vicinity, forced residents to evacuate, and turned them into military outposts.
