Israeli army continues wide-scale raid in West Bank town

By Aysar Alais, Said Amori and Rania Abu Shamala

RAMALLAH/JERUSALEM/ISTANBUL (AA) – The Israeli army on Saturday continued for the second day a large-scale offensive in the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin in the northern West Bank after a shooting attack that killed two Israelis a day earlier, local sources told Anadolu.

On Friday, two people were killed and two others injured in a combined car-ramming and stabbing incident in the northern Israeli cities of Beit She’an and Afula, after which Tel Aviv launched a wide military offensive in Qabatiya, claiming that the attacker was from the town.

Around 44 military vehicles and several bulldozers stormed Qabatiya, imposed a curfew, and closed main roads leading to the town, the sources said.

They added that Israeli soldiers deployed across Qabatiya’s streets, while snipers took positions on the rooftops of several buildings, and a military helicopter opened machine-gun fire into open areas in the town.

The sources also said Israeli forces arrested the father and brother of the alleged attacker after raiding their home in Qabatiya and took them to an undisclosed location, while other members of the family were interrogated. Israeli forces also raided numerous homes, destroying their contents, bulldozed streets, and damaged infrastructure.

Videos circulated by local media platforms showed several released young men with their hands still tied behind their backs.

Israeli forces and illegal settlers have killed at least 1,103 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, injured nearly 11,000, and detained around 21,000 since October 2023, Palestinian figures showed.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.