Smoke billows after an explosion over the Jenin camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank during an Israeli raid. AFP
Israel said on Sunday its troops would remain for many months in refugee camps in the northern West Bank after at least 40,000 Palestinians living there were forcibly displaced by an intensifying, weeks-long army attacks that killed at least 51 Palestininas, including seven children.
The occupation army also announced tank deployments in Jenin, where it said it was expanding its operations. This is the first time tanks have operated in the occupied West Bank since the end of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in 2005.
In a statement, Islamic Jihad said Israel's use of tanks and the evacuation of three Palestinian refugee camps "confirms the occupation's plans to annex the West Bank by force."
The resistance group described the move as "a new act of aggression".
It "aims at uprooting our people from their land and consolidating military domination by creating settler corridors that reinforce the separation of West Bank cities and their camps," the group said.
Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz on Sunday said that three Palestinian refugee camps -- Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams -- were "now empty of residents" following Israel's attack, which began last month.
Katz said he had instructed troops "to prepare for a prolonged presence" in the camps for the coming year and to prevent the return of Palestinians to their homes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a rare visit to troops in the territory last week, stormed a Palestinian home in Tulkarem refugee camp, and ordered the army to step up its operations in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
Violence in the territory has surged since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza in October 2023.
Israeli troops and terrorist settlers have killed at least 900 Palestinians in the territory since the start of the Gaza war, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared that Israel’s long-standing occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal, demanding the evacuation of all colonial settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
* This stroy was edited by Ahram Online.
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