At least 12 Palestinians martyred in Israeli strikes in Occupied West Bank

Kafr Qud:  Israeli forces, supported by drone strikes, killed at least 12 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the medical sources said on Tuesday.

Israeli barbarism continued amid a series of raids around two contentious cities in the northern West Bank, which led to armed clashes with Palestinian fighters.

The Israeli military reported conducting two separate airstrikes in Jenin but did not provide further details. The Palestinian Health Ministry indicated that five people were killed when two vehicles in Jenin were struck, a key area of fighter activity in the West Bank. One person was also critically injured in these strikes.

The airstrikes were part of a broader Israeli military operation in Jenin, during which social media footage showed armored personnel carriers and bulldozers entering the city and disrupting roads.

Following this, Israeli forces surrounded a house in the nearby village of Kafr Qud. Local medical workers reported that three people were killed in the ensuing gunfight, with two others wounded. The identities of the deceased and their affiliations were not immediately clear.

As Israel prepares for a potential Iranian response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, the violence in the West Bank highlights the ongoing security challenges faced by Israeli forces, especially in the wake of the war with Hamas in Gaza that began 10 months ago.

Additionally, overnight in the West Bank town of Aqaba near Tubas, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that at least four Palestinians were killed and seven others injured by Israeli fire. Two of the injured were in critical condition. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that these clashes began after Israeli forces surrounded a house in Aqaba and confronted a group of young men.

Since the onset of the Gaza war, Israeli forces have killed hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including both armed fighters and unarmed civilians. In contrast, at least 13 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks.

 On Tuesday, a female border guard was injured in a stabbing attack at a Jerusalem checkpoint by a Palestinian man using a screwdriver; the attacker was shot dead by police.