ISRAELI forces carried out sweeping overnight raids into yesterday morning across the occupied West Bank, detaining dozens of Palestinians, assaulting residents, and issuing new demolition orders.
The largest operations took place in al-Khalil, Ramallah, Nablus, Qalqilya, Tubas, Tulkarm, and Jenin. In Beit Ummar, troops stormed homes, turned properties into military posts, and seized more than 40 Palestinians, with witnesses reporting beatings in homes and at a sports field used for interrogations.
Settler attacks accompanied the raids. Faisal al-Qawasmi said settlers assaulted his father, mother, and brother near Road 60, sending all three to hospital. In Khirbet al-Farisiya in the northern Jordan Valley, settlers attacked residents and livestock.
Arrests and assaults were reported across the region. Israeli troops detained young men in Qabatiya, raided the National Hospital courtyard in Nablus, seized two men in Beit Furik and Salem, and set a car alight in al-Bireh after firing a flare. Tammun in Tubas saw home raids and assaults, while Tulkarm was searched without arrests.
At the same time, Israeli forces issued demolition orders in Masafer Yatta. Residents of Jinba and al-Halawa received notices for the destruction of a mosque, a park, homes, tents, livestock barns, and sanitation units, according to activist Osama Makhamra.
- Israeli forces carried out new airstrikes and ground incursions across Gaza on Wednesday night and into Thursday morning.
The Government Media Office said the latest attacks began shortly after a day of mass casualties in Gaza City and Khan Younis, where 25 people were killed in bombings that wiped out entire families.
Among the dead were a father and his three children, and a man and his wife.
Dozens more were wounded, many in a critical condition. Medical teams later confirmed that at least 25 people had been killed in strikes since last night, including 18 children and at least one woman, in addition to those who died earlier in the day.
Civil defence crews in the south reported continued bombardment yesterday morning. Rescue teams recovered the bodies of three people and evacuated 15 wounded from the Abu Sabt and Sahmoud families after a strike on a home in the Bani Suheila area east of Khan Younis.
A further casualty was evacuated from the Johor ad-Dik area in the southeast of Gaza City after coordination with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
On Wednesday alone, hospitals registered 28 deaths, including 17 children and one woman, and 77 wounded in strikes on Gaza City and Khan Younis.
While airstrikes continued, Israeli forces advanced east of Gaza City and expanded the so-called yellow zone by pushing tanks 300 metres deeper into the neighbourhoods of Al-Sha’f, Al-Nazaz, and Baghdad.
Local authorities said troops changed the line of yellow markers and cut off families who had no time to flee, leaving many trapped in their homes under shellfire.
The fate of a number of families remains unknown. The Government Media Office condemned the expansion as a deliberate assault on the ceasefire and said Israel had carried out nearly 400 violations since the agreement was announced, resulting in more than 300 deaths, hundreds of injuries, and further deterioration of already catastrophic living conditions in the remaining areas of the Gaza Strip.
It said the ability of Israeli forces to continue these attacks was directly linked to the failure of mediators and guarantors to enforce the agreement.
The office warned that silence from those parties was ‘no longer acceptable’ and held them responsible for the humanitarian consequences, citing their failure to compel Israel to halt its attacks or allow sufficient food, shelter materials, medical supplies, and other essentials to enter Gaza.
Hazem Qassem, spokes-person for the Hamas movement, said the latest strikes demonstrated that Israel was disregarding both the ceasefire and its international guarantors.
He said the occupation had ‘committed a major massacre’ despite the agreement, killing and wounding dozens, including women and children.
He added that this reflected a ‘clear lack of respect’ by the Israeli government for the parties involved in the deal and accused those governments of failing to curb Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Qassem called on Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the United States to act immediately to stop Israel’s aggression and enforce the terms of the agreement reached in Sharm El-Sheikh.
