UN calls for end to IDF’s West Bank raid; Israel: We have to thwart suicide bombings
Antonio Guterres condemns large-scale counterterror raid that has so far killed 17 Palestinians, including senior commanders; US calls for restraint
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called on Israel to cease its military operation in the West Bank, amid a large-scale counterterrorism operation launched by the Israel Defense Forces this week that is expected to last at least several days.
Israeli forces killed five Palestinian gunmen overnight who were hiding in a mosque in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, including a local terror leader, according to the military.
The IDF launched the large-scale operation in Tulkarem early Wednesday. Troops were also operating in the city of Jenin and the Far’a camp near Tubas as part of the operation.
According to Palestinian media, the death toll since the start of the operation had risen to 17 as of Thursday morning.
In a post on X, Guterres said, “Latest developments in the occupied West Bank, including Israel’s launch of large-scale military operations, are deeply concerning. I strongly condemn the loss of lives, including of children, and I call for an immediate cessation of these operations.”
Earlier this week, an IDF drone strike targeted what the military said was a terror cell’s command room, in the Nur Shams camp near Tulkarem. The strike was said to kill five people, two of whom Palestinian authorities identified as minors.
In a separate statement published by Guterres’s spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, the secretary-general called on Israel to follow international law and then urged the country to “exercise maximum restraint and use lethal force only when it is strictly unavoidable to protect life.”
“These dangerous developments are fueling an already explosive situation in the occupied West Bank and further undermining the Palestinian Authority,” Guterres said.
“Ultimately, only an end to the occupation and a return to a meaningful political process that will establish a two-state solution will bring an end to the violence,” he said.
The IDF’s West Bank operation is being conducted in the wake of an attempted suicide bombing in Tel Aviv last week. The bomber, whose explosive detonated prematurely, was named by the Hamas terror group as Jaafar Mona, from the West Bank city of Nablus.
Troops taking part in the raid Wednesday were operating in an area from which the attempted bombing was launched, IDF sources said. The military believed that a terror network that planned and directed the intended attack was based in the Tulkarem area.
Hamas official Khaled Mashaal called in a speech in Istanbul Wednesday for the resumption of suicide attacks, according to reports in Arabic media.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon responded to Guterres, saying that Israel would not wait passively for suicide bombings.
“Since October 7th, Iran has been actively working to smuggle sophisticated explosive devices into Judea and Samaria intended for use in suicide bombings in the heart of Israeli cities,” Danon said, referring to the West Bank by its biblical names.
“The State of Israel will not sit idly by and wait for scenes of buses and cafes exploding in city centers,” Danon said in his post, referring the Second Intifada, a wave of Palestinian terrorism in Israel in the early 2000s that included many suicide bombings.
The White House on Wednesday also urged Israel “to take all feasible measures to protect civilian lives in the West Bank,” but it did not call for the IDF to stop the operation.
“We recognize Israel’s very real security needs, which includes countering terrorist activity in the West Bank,” said a statement from a State Department spokesperson to The Times of Israel.
Since October 7th, Iran has been actively working to smuggle sophisticated explosive devices into Judea and Samaria, intended for use in suicide bombings in the heart of Israeli cities.
The State of Israel will not sit idly by and wait for scenes of buses and cafes exploding in… https://t.co/WBnlPp0E6v
— Danny Danon ???????? דני דנון (@dannydanon) August 29, 2024
“At the same time, we continue to insist that Israeli authorities take measures to protect all civilians from harm,” the statement continued.
“We also remain deeply concerned about maintaining stability in the West Bank and continue to urge Israel to take all feasible measures to protect civilian lives in the West Bank – just as we urge them to do in Gaza,” it added.
Since October 7, troops have arrested some 4,850 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,960 affiliated with Hamas.
According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 650 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.
During the same period, 27 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another five members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
