Jerusalem, Feb 2 (IANS) The Israeli military said on Sunday that it has expanded its major campaign in the northern occupied West Bank.
Overnight, Israeli troops raided the town of Tammun, north of Nablus, where an Israeli airstrike killed 10 militants last week, a military spokesperson said in a statement, adding the troops found an M-16 rifle and magazines.
According to the spokesperson, Israeli troops were preparing to raid four more towns and villages in the area, and a raid in Jenin, further north in the West Bank, was ongoing, Xinhua news agency reported.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that Israeli ground troops and bulldozers raided the area, forcing several families to leave their homes on the outskirts of the town. Bulldozers erected earth mounds, blocking the main road leading to the town.
On Sunday, a 73-year-old Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the Jenin refugee camp, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported.
Israel launched its largest military operation in Jenin in years on January 21, calling it a “counterterrorism operation”. At least 25 people have been killed by Israeli forces since the offensive began, according to Palestinian figures.
Israeli military vehicles and two bulldozers pushed into the town of Tammun, southeast of Tubas city, and al-Far’a refugee camp and imposed a curfew in the two areas, they added.
According to witnesses, Israeli soldiers forced families out of their homes in al-Far’a camp and turned the buildings into military outposts.
The Palestinian official news agency WAFA confirmed the Israeli raid in the two areas.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society, for its part, accused Israeli forces of preventing its medics from evacuating a sick Palestinian in al-Far’a camp.
Local authorities in Tubas suspended school classes in Tammun and al-Far’a camps following the Israeli raid.
Earlier on Saturday, a 16-year-old Palestinian boy was among five killed in Israeli airstrikes on Jenin, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
The strikes were part of a large-scale Israeli military operation that has continued for nearly three weeks.
The Israeli military began raiding the city in the northern West Bank on January 21, just two days after a cease-fire in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas came into effect.
Hundreds of Israeli soldiers, backed by the Air Force, have since attacked Palestinian territories allegedly searching for military weapons and equipment.
–IANS
int/khz
