Israel ramps up military assault on occupied West Bank for second day

Several Palestinians have been killed and injured in raids across the territory that have drawn global condemnation.

The Israeli military has called in reinforcements as it escalated its assault on the occupied West Bank for a second day.

At least 18 people have been killed since the start of the operation in the north of the territory, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Thursday.

Eight people were killed in the Jenin governorate, six in Tulkarem and four in Tubas, while dozens more have been injured.

At least 20 Palestinians, including children, have so far been imprisoned by Israeli forces, according to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, who warned on Thursday that the number could rise as the raids continue.

In Tulkarem’s Nur Shams refugee camp, the Israeli military claimed on Thursday that it had killed five Palestinian fighters who were hiding in a mosque.

Among them was the commander of the Tulkarem Battalion, Mohamed Jaber, also known as Abu Shuja’a, it said. The military said Abu Shuja’a had directed the shooting and killing of an Israeli man in Qalqilya in June.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group confirmed the death of Abu Shuja’a and the other fighters, saying in a statement that they were killed “after a heroic battle against the soldiers of the [Israeli] occupation”.

Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the PIJ, later said that it targeted an Israeli infantry force in Tulkarem with an explosive device and a “hail of bullets” in response to the killing of Abu Shuja’a. The Jenin Battalion of the group also claimed a similar attack later on Thursday.