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Israel's military on Wednesday launched a new operation against Palestinian armed groups in the occupied West Bank, where a local governor told AFP that Israeli forces had raided several towns.

The Israeli military, police and internal security service said in a joint statement that they had begun "a broad counter-terrorism operation" in the north of the Palestinian territory after they received intelligence about "attempts to establish terrorist strongholds."

The military said the operation began with air strikes to isolate the area, which were followed by "searches" on the ground, during which suspects were questioned and funds were confiscated.

The Israeli army confirmed to AFP that it was a new operation and not part of the one launched in January 2025, which primarily targeted Palestinian refugee camps in the northern West Bank.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.

The operation, which began overnight, was taking place in predominantly agricultural Tubas, the northeasternmost of the 11 governorates in the West Bank.

Ahmed al-Asaad, governor of the Tubas region, told AFP, "This is the first time that the entire governorate is included, the whole governorate is now under Israeli army operations."

Asaad said Israeli forces raided the towns of Tammun and Tayasir and the Al-Faraa Palestinian refugee camp.

"The army has closed the city entrances with earth mounds, so there is no movement at all," he added.

He told AFP that "an Apache helicopter" was involved in the operation and said it had fired in the direction of residential areas.

"This is a political operation, not a security one," he said.

Injuries Reported

An AFP photographer saw some soldiers walking around inside Tubas city, with a few armored cars driving through and a surveillance aerial vehicle buzzing overhead. Most shops were closed.

The road entrance to nearby Tammun had been closed off by a military vehicle.

An ambulance was allowed to go through but citizens were not. Armored cars were driving around at the scene.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its teams in the governorate had treated 10 injured people, four of whom had to be transferred to hospital.

It added that some of its teams were "facing obstruction in transporting patients in the city of Tubas and the town of Tammun since dawn" and were still responding to calls for help following the raids.

The UN's humanitarian agency OCHA said on Wednesday evening that a curfew had been imposed in the area and that at least two dozen families were forced to evacuate as Israeli troops took over their homes.

Militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad condemned the Israeli operation.

Hamas said in a statement that it was part of a policy "aimed at crushing any Palestinian presence in order to achieve complete control over the West Bank."

Violence in the West Bank has soared since Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war and has not ceased despite the fragile truce between Israel and Hamas coming into effect last month.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, many of them militants but also scores of civilians, in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.

At least 44 Israelis, including both soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations, according to official Israeli figures.

AFP