Jerusalem (TDI): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a rare visit on Friday to forces operating in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, ordering the military to intensify its raids in the area.
Netanyahu went to the Tulkarem refugee camp in the north of the Palestinian territory a day after bombs exploded on multiple buses in central Israel, with Israeli officials stating the devices used were similar to ones employed in the occupied territory.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that he had visited the camp and directed more raids in the northern West Bank.
Days after a ceasefire implemented in Gaza, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the territory’s north, spanning many refugee camps near the cities of Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas.
At least 51 Palestinians, including 7 minors, have been killed since the military assault started, according to the UN.
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Three Israeli soldiers have also been died during the same period, it said.
On Friday, a 13-year-old girl was killed by Israeli forces’ “live fire” in Tulkarem, according to the Palestinian ministry of health in Ramallah.
The girl’s killing came a day after another Palestinian was died when his car was hit by an armoured military vehicle just outside of Tulkarem camp, governor Abdallah Kamil said.
The military offensive has displaced at least forty thousand people, according to the UN’s office for humanitarian coordination.
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It is the longest in the West Bank since the Second Intifada, a Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s.
Netanyahu alleged that the army was doing “very important work against Hamas and other terrorist groups’ desire to harm us”.
In Tulkarem, as in Jenin, the Israeli military has demolished dozens of homes with explosives, clearing entire roads through the densely built camps.
