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EPA<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt least nine Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the north of the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials say. <\/p>\n However, the true figure could be higher, with Palestinian officials earlier saying that at least 11 people had been killed since the Israeli operation began at midnight local time. <\/p>\n Israeli security forces said they were carrying out “a counterterrorism operation to thwart terror” in Jenin and Tulkarm.<\/p>\n This appears to be a major Israeli operation, with at least four Palestinian cities being targeted at the same time – Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus and Tubas. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n It is believed to be the first time since the second intifada – a major Palestinian uprising from 2000 to 2005 – that several Palestinian cities have been targeted simultaneously in this way.<\/p>\n Palestinian reports say that the main roads into Jenin have been closed off with armed clashes in the city\u2019s refugee camp.<\/p>\n An Israeli air strike is said to have targeted a vehicle in a nearby village at dawn. <\/p>\n Israeli forces are said to have entered a hospital in Jenin and blocked off two in Tulkarm. <\/p>\n Israeli military raids of Nablus are reportedly focused on two refugee camps there. <\/p>\n In Far\u2019a camp near Tubas, medics say ambulances are struggling to reach the wounded after an Israeli drone strike.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have been “operating with full force since last night in the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps to dismantle Iranian-Islamic terror infrastructures established there”. <\/p>\n He accused Iran, which backs the armed groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, of seeking to open what he called a new front against Israel in the West Bank.<\/p>\n “We must deal with the threat just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and whatever steps are required,” he added. <\/p>\n The Israeli military has given few details but said in a statement that the IDF, internal security agency Shin Bet and Israel Border Police forces were “currently conducting a counterterrorism operation to thwart terror in Jenin and Tulkarm”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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