At least 10 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli attack on the occupied West Bank, and Jordan’s foreign minister warned that the attack could lead to an “explosion” in the West Bank.

At least 40 people were injured in an operation that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said was “extensive and significant,” Palestinian health officials said. The IDF said the aim of such a large-scale operation is to ensure that militant groups “do not rearm within a few hundred meters of Israeli communities”.

The attack comes days after a cease-fire began in the Gaza war, which began with a Hamas attack on October 7 that killed around 1,200 people and took 250 hostages. According to health ministry officials in Gaza, Israel’s retaliatory attack inside Gaza has killed 47,000 Palestinians.

International spokesman Col. Nadav Shoshani called Jenin “one of the main hotbeds of terror” and said: “We must learn from October 7 and not allow terrorist groups to reorganize, re-arm and plan terrorist attacks within a few hundred meters of us. do”.

Palestinian media reported that several airstrikes took place on Tuesday, as large numbers of troops entered the city and its refugee camp, supported by drones, helicopters and armored bulldozers. On Wednesday, the governor of Jenin said Israeli forces had “bulldozed all the roads leading to the Jenin camp and to the government hospital in Jenin”.

Dr. Mahmoud Saadi, head of the Jenin Ambulance and Emergency Center, said: “Nearly 200 people, including the wounded and sick, were trapped in the main government hospital in Jenin, which was surrounded by military vehicles and soldiers.”

talk to Independent In a phone call from inside the complex, he said that the Israeli army also prevents ambulances from entering.

Video images taken by and shared with Palestinian residents Independent It shows mounds of dirt around the hospital that residents say were dug up by Israeli military bulldozers.

Colonel Shoshani confirmed the military presence around the hospital and said: “We have given a temporary safety notice to people not to leave the hospital because there is activity outside the hospital in the vicinity of the hospital with explosives.”

“It is difficult to describe what is going on right now,” said Dr. Saadi Independent.

“There are many military vehicles and soldiers around the hospital, and we encountered four injured people since morning. One of them was in critical condition. “Snipers are hiding on top of many buildings.”

He said the Israeli army appeared to be digging up sections of roads with armored bulldozers, which were filmed driving into the area. This made it difficult to evacuate patients who were in the hospital before the attack began.

“One of my medical colleagues was arrested at a checkpoint near the hospital. “He got out of the ambulance while working.”

Dr. Wissam Bakr, the head of the hospital, echoed Dr. Saad’s words, adding that Israeli soldiers and bulldozers are outside the hospital digging up the streets of the area. He added: 88 patients and 80 personnel are trapped inside the hospital and they are trying to get them out with the coordination of the Red Cross.

In response to a question about recent events in the occupied West Bank, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that “maintaining the security of the West Bank” is the “main priority” and warned that otherwise it could ” destabilize the whole”. region”.

He added: “I think that maintaining the security of the West Bank, making sure that the West Bank does not explode is one of the main priorities, and what is happening there is dangerous.” And I think that the whole world needs to take a deep look at what’s going on, and again, with the same vigor that we look at the ceasefire, we need to try to prevent an explosion in the West Bank.

Col. Shoshani declined to give a time frame for the duration of the operation, but said the army would likely operate in different areas of the West Bank, indicating the operation could expand.

An unnamed security source told Israel’s Channel 14 on Wednesday that Israel’s military operation in the northern occupied West Bank “could last for months.”

We will do to them what we did in Gaza. “We will destroy them.”

Colonel Shoshani said: The threat of terrorism to ordinary civilians, both through organized terrorist networks and lone wolf attacks, is still a serious and immediate threat to our civilians. Hamas is also trying to incite this terror that comes out of it [the West Bank] And encouraging those terrorist cells inside [the West Bank] To carry out terrorist attacks against Israelis. Iran has repeatedly tried to smuggle weapons and explosives into the country [the West Bank]”

The international spokesman cited the January 18 stabbing by a Palestinian from Tulkram in Tel Aviv, an attack a few weeks ago in which Jenin militants killed three Israelis, including two elderly women, near the settlement of Kedumim, and a December attack in which 83 people were killed. A one-year-old woman was stabbed to death in Herzliya by a Palestinian fighter from Tolkram.

Heartbreaking footage shared on Palestinian social media appears to show a family, including several children, being shot as they pass the fetus.

In this short clip, the voices of terrified women and children behind the car can be heard shouting, Go, Go, Go! As gunshots crackle in the background.

The video ends abruptly after a direct hit to the car driver.

Later, Palestinian doctors identified the driver as Ahmed Nimr al-Shaib, 43, and claimed he had been shot by Israeli snipers. Palestinian journalist Raya Waqar, who attended his funeral, said she could hear random gunfire and see more military vehicles entering the area.

Independent It has asked the Israeli army about Ahmed’s death and the video of the family under fire in the car, but has not yet received a response. Israel has repeatedly denied targeting civilians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, dozens of masked men stormed two Palestinian villages in the northern West Bank late Monday, throwing stones and setting fire to cars and property, according to local Palestinian officials. The Red Crescent Emergency Department reported that 12 people were beaten and injured. The Israeli army said the men threw stones at the soldiers who came to disperse them, and an investigation has been launched.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces launched an attack on other locations in the West Bank, which the army said was in response to firebombs being thrown at Israeli vehicles. It said several suspects were detained for questioning, and a video posted online appeared to show dozens of people marching in the streets.

Jalal Bashir, head of Janesfoot village council, said that three houses, a kindergarten and a carpentry shop were attacked. Bashir said: “The settlers were wearing masks and had incendiary materials. “Their number was unprecedented.”

Dozens of men opened fire, threw stones, burned cars and attacked houses and shops, said Louai Taim, chairman of the Al-Fandouq local council, according to the Associated Press.

Charred car hulls were strewn on the side of the road in Janesfoot on Tuesday as residents surveyed the damage to a burnt-out warehouse.

Smith-Songhi, head of the UN human rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said Israel’s operation in the West Bank “is being conducted in a way that uses military methods and instruments of war, while Israel should use a … law enforcement framework.” ».

“What we are seeing, witnessing and recording is a violation of this. There is widespread destruction of infrastructure in camps like Jenin: electricity, water and other necessities of the people are cut off. And then, of course, the displacement of people from the camps. This has continued even today.”

He said restrictions on movement in the West Bank had been tightened and new checkpoints had been set up after a ceasefire in Gaza this week.

The Israeli military said the checkpoints were part of a tool to “fight terrorism.”

In his speech in Davos, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the ceasefire in Gaza has so far been successful in providing aid to Gaza, but warned against any further action.

He said: “It is possible that Israel will be emboldened by military successes and think that now is the time to annex the West Bank and keep Gaza in a state of purgatory.”

This is a complete violation of international law and means that there will never be peace in the Middle East.”