News - Middle East: The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and other Palestinian factions in the besieged Gaza Strip have jointly called for mobilization in defense of the occupied West Bank against Israel’s largest assault on the territory in years.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Committee of National and Islamic Forces in Gaza, consisting of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement, and several other factions, has called on all Palestinians to confront the ongoing Israeli deadly raids on the occupied West Bank. 

“This aggression is an extension of the war of extermination and displacement against the Palestinian people and their land,” the committee said in a statement, adding that the “resistance is steadfast and will thwart the occupation’s goals.”

Earlier in the day, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority (PA), shortened his trip to Saudi Arabia and returned to the West Bank over Israel’s relentless aggression in northern parts of the territory.    

The committee strongly called on the PA its affiliated security services to “carry out its duties to protect the Palestinian people” and “take the initiative to the field of honor and dignity and confront the Zionists and their settler gangs.” 

The resistance groups also urged all Palestinians to “mobilize for a general confrontation and open engagement with the enemy to defend the land and identity and support our people in the northern West Bank.” 

According to initial figures by the Red Crescent, at least ten Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids and strikes in several towns. Ahmed Jibril, a Red Crescent spokesman, said two Palestinians were killed in the city of Jenin, four others in a nearby village, and four more in a refugee camp near the town of Tubas.

In the early hours of Wednesday, the Israeli army conducted its biggest operation – dubbed “Camps of Summer” – in the West Bank in over 20 years, deploying hundreds of troops and airstrikes on Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas, which are major centers of resistance.

In a separate statement, Hamas called on every Palestinian “in every place in our occupied land” to boost resistance against Israel. 

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz has called for the forced evacuation of Palestinians throughout the West Bank, similar to actions taken in Gaza.

Since the onset of the current Israeli aggression, West Bank branches of Hamas’ Qassam Brigades, PIJ's Quds Brigades, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and other groups have been confronting the Israeli army in Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas camps.

“Our fighters, in coordination with other resistance factions, are engaged in fierce clashes to repel the ongoing occupation aggression in the Faraa camp (near Tubas), Tulkarem, and Jenin. They are targeting enemy forces and their vehicles with machine guns and explosive devices, achieving direct hits,” the Qassam Brigades’ West Bank branch said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon. 

Separately, the Quds Brigades Jenin branch, known as the Jenin Brigade, said in a statement, saying that it “targeted enemy forces and military reinforcements with a high-explosive device, and our heroes continue to target enemy forces with heavy barrages of bullets, achieving direct hits.”

Since October 2023, the West Bank has seen a rise in violence by Israeli forces and settlers that has claimed the lives of hundreds of Palestinians.

Source: Press TV