Israeli forces stormed the Old City of Nablus on Sunday amid intensified raids throughout the West Bank, seizing and arresting many citizens.
They raided homes, positioned snipers on rooftops, and sparked clashes with residents.
Seven Palestinians were injured in the Israeli raids on Nablus, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported, two of them seriously.
Local sources reported hearing explosions and gunfire in the Old City, with Israeli reconnaissance planes frequently flying overhead.
‘The aggression has led to a severe humanitarian crisis, with more than 470 establishments and homes destroyed, essential services halted, water and electricity cut off, and shortages in food supplies,’ the Media Committee in Jenin Camp reported.
‘The occupation is preventing water from reaching four hospitals in Jenin and depriving 35 per cent of the residents of water,’ it said
‘The occupation’s aggression against Jenin and its camp continues for the 27th day, resulting in the martyrdom of 25 citizens, the displacement of more than 20,000 people, and the destruction of infrastructure and homes,’ it added.
Additional military reinforcements, including demolition vehicles, have been deployed by the Israeli forces across various areas in the occupied West Bank.
‘The occupation has deployed military reinforcements to the Jenin camp, carried out heavy shelling, and fired live ammunition near the Tiger Station,’ the report said.
‘More than 150 citizens have been arrested, 153 raids have been carried out, and 14 airstrikes have been executed,’ it added.
The Media Committee said the Israeli forces destroyed the homes of martyrs Amjad al-Fayed and his uncles.
In Jenin, fighters from the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, detonated explosive devices targeting Israeli vehicles in the Wadi Al-Silah Al-Harithiya axis.
They also raided the homes of Palestinian prisoners, including Nael Obeid, recently released as part of an exchange deal, leading to clashes with Palestinians and they arrested the sister of Mahmoud Al-Ghalith, also released in the sixth batch of prisoner exchanges.
Meanwhile, Israeli settler attacks are increasing as the occupation continues its assault on Palestinian civilians.
Israeli settler attacks in the West Bank escalated, with attacks on Palestinian villages, including Jalud and Umm Safa. In Jalud, settlers burned a house, and in Umm Safa, they opened fire on Palestinian homes. Israeli forces were present in both incidents, using sound bombs and tear gas to suppress Palestinian resistance.
In the southern West Bank, illegal Israeli settlers targeted vehicles and tents in the Minya desert southeast of Bethlehem, damaging a waste transport vehicle.
Since the beginning of the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, the Israeli forces and settlers have also intensified assaults in the West Bank.
Some 14,500 people have been arrested, according to Palestinian officials. At least 916 Palestinians have been killed and 7,000 more injured since then.
During the 15 months of the Israeli regime’s genocidal war against the people of Gaza more than 48,000 Palestinians were killed, most of them children and women.
Amid severe shortages of essential resources such as food, water, and medical supplies due to deliberate restrictions, the Israeli war on Gaza has forcibly displaced almost all of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.
On January 15, the Israeli regime, having failed to achieve any of its war objectives including the ‘elimination’ of Hamas or the release of captives, was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with the Gaza-based resistance movement.
- Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan has affirmed that his Movement will neither leave the Gaza Strip under any circumstances nor make any concessions as a price for reconstruction, stressing that the next day in post-war Gaza will be an inter-Palestinian day.
Hamdan made the remarks during his participation in the 16th Al Jazeera Forum, which kicked off on Saturday in Doha under the title ‘From the War on Gaza to Change in Syria: Shifting Dynamics in the Middle East.’
‘We won and were not defeated, so we will never pay the price of the defeat that has been suffered by the occupation under any circumstances,’ Hamdan said.
He also emphasised that the resistance fighter who sacrificed himself for his land and lost half or all of his family would not accept the idea of seeing Hamas being excluded from the Palestinian project under any pressure.
‘Listen to me carefully to end this discussion, anyone who replaces the occupation in Gaza or any city in Palestine, we will deal with him through resistance as we do with the Israeli occupation.
‘That’s a given and non-negotiable.’
He asserted that his Movement is keen on having Gaza rebuilt and ready to reach an agreement about the next day in Gaza with the Palestinian Authority.
The Ministry of Public Works and Housing in the Gaza Strip announced that initial estimates of the damage caused by the Israeli genocidal war indicate that 280,000 housing units have been completely destroyed or damaged to the extent that they are uninhabitable.
In a statement on Sunday, the ministry said that the number of destroyed units assessed on the ground so far has reached 250,000 housing units, including 170,000 units that were completely destroyed and 80,000 units that are uninhabitable.
It confirmed that its field teams have been documenting the extent of the damage since the first day of the aggression, despite the significant risks they faced, with some of their personnel losing their lives while performing their duties.
After the ceasefire went into effect, the teams were able to get to new areas that had been inaccessible during the war, contributing to the intensification of field assessment operations.
The statement noted that the ministry is working on linking the preliminary assessment database to the geographic information system in coordination with municipalities, to facilitate data sharing with the Ministry of Social Development and partner organisations to provide necessary interventions for shelter.
The initial assessment operations will be completed within the next two weeks, after which they will move to the detailed assessment phase in coordination with international bodies and organisations involved in reconstruction. This assessment will include all affected units, including homes that sustained partial damage but remain habitable.
The ministry also announced its intention to launch an electronic link in the coming days, allowing affected families to find out about the status of their housing units that have been assessed, as well as the ability to register units that have not yet been documented. Field teams will follow up on these units and add them to the database according to the established assessment criteria.
In conclusion, the ministry affirmed its commitment to providing data and technical support to all local and international organisations seeking to contribute to shelter and reconstruction efforts, emphasising its ongoing fieldwork to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people.
Three Palestinian policemen were killed and others injured on Sunday morning in an Israeli airstrike in the al-Shuka area in eastern Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
According to Gaza’s interior ministry, two policemen were killed immediately and another one succumbed to critical injuries later, and the Israeli airstrike targeted them as they were protecting humanitarian aid. The martyrs are Yousef al-Eid, Ibrahim al-Eid, and Bilal al-Maghari.
The ministry appealed to the international community to pressure the Israeli occupation to stop targeting police personnel, describing policemen in Gaza as ‘members of a civilian apparatus that provides services to protect the security of civilians and organise their daily affairs.’
Yesterday, an Israeli airstrike killed a civilian in the Abu Halawa area, east of Rafah.