Israeli army launches major operation in the West Bank

At least 11 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the northern occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials say.

Five people were reportedly killed in an airstrike on al-Far’a refugee camp, and six in a drone strike and armed clashes in Jenin.

Israeli security forces said they were conducting “an anti-terror operation to prevent terrorism” in Jenin and Tulkarm.

It appears to be a major Israeli operation, targeting at least four Palestinian cities at once – Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus and Tubas.

It is believed to be the first time since the second intifada – the major Palestinian uprising from 2000 to 2005 – that multiple Palestinian cities have been targeted in this way.

Palestinian reports say main roads into Jenin have been blocked due to armed clashes at the city’s refugee camp.

An Israeli airstrike is believed to have targeted a vehicle in a nearby village at dawn.

Israeli forces reportedly entered a hospital in Jenin and sealed off two others in Tulkarm.

Israeli military strikes on Nablus are said to have focused on two refugee camps there.

At the Far’a camp near Tubas, medical workers said ambulances were having difficulty reaching the wounded after an Israeli drone strike.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had been “working at full capacity since last night in the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps to destroy the Iranian Islamic terrorist infrastructure established there.”

He accused Iran, which backs the militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, of seeking to open what he called a new front against Israel in the West Bank.

“We must address the threat in the same way we address the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and any other measures necessary,” he added.

The Israeli military gave few details but said in a statement that the Israel Defense Forces, the Shin Bet internal security agency and the Israel Border Police “are currently conducting an anti-terror operation to prevent terrorism in Jenin and Tulkarm”.