Israeli raid in West Bank kills 10 amid Gaza ceasefire
· RTE.ieIsraeli security forces backed by helicopters have raided a refugee camp in the West Bank city of Jenin, killing at least ten Palestinians and injuring a further 35 people.
The action, launched a day after US President Donald Trump declared he was lifting sanctions on violent Israeli settlers who attacked Palestinian villages, was announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a new offensive against Iranian-backed militant groups.
Jenin governor Kamal Abu al-Rub said the operation was "an invasion of the (refugee) camp".
"It came quickly, Apache helicopters in the sky and Israeli military vehicles everywhere," he added.
The spokesman for the Palestinian security forces, Anwar Rajab, said in a statement that Israeli forces had "opened fire on civilians and security forces, resulting in injuries to several civilians and a number of security personnel, one of whom is in critical condition".
The operation follows a weeks-long operation by Palestinian security forces to reassert control in the refugee camp, a major centre of armed militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
As the operation began, Palestinian forces withdrew from the refugee camp and the sound of heavy gunfire could be heard in mobile phone footage shared on social media.
The move into Jenin, where the Israeli army has carried out multiple raids and large-scale incursions over recent years, comes only two days after the start of a ceasefire in Gaza and underscores the threat of more violence in the West Bank.
An Israeli air strike last week in the Jenin refugee camp killed at least three Palestinians and wounded scores more.
Yesterday, bands of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians, smashing cars and burning property, near the village of al-Funduq, in an area where three Israelis were killed in a shooting earlier this month.
Speaking from Jerusalem on RTÉ's News at One, UNWRA spokesperson Juliette Touma said that children were most impacted after Israel carried out a raid in Jenin.
"Violence will breed more violence. What this means, including for UNWRA, is that the services get impacted.
"What these surges in conflict that keep happening in the West Bank do to children, first and foremost, they create trauma and shock and prevent them going to school," she said.
Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land Israel captured in 1967.
Most countries consider Israel's settlements on territory seized in war to be illegal.
Head of Israeli military resigns over 7 October military 'failure'
The head of Israel's military, Major General Herzi Halevi, resigned yesterday over his responsibility for the military's "failure" during the Hamas attack.
Mr Halevi said he would complete the Israel Defence Forces' inquiries into 7 October and strengthen the IDF's readiness for security challenges.
It was not immediately clear who would replace Mr Halevi, who said he would transfer the IDF command to a yet-to-be-named successor.
"My responsibility for the terrible failure accompanies me every day, hour by hour, and will do so for the rest of my life," said Mr Halevi.
Gaza ceasefire enters third day
The operation comes as the Israel-Hamas ceasefire entered its third day, while US President Donald Trump said he doubted the fragile deal would hold.
Desperately needed humanitarian aid has begun to flow into war-battered Gaza after Israel and Hamas conducted the first exchange of hostages for prisoners agreed under the terms of the ceasefire.
Gazans displaced by more than 15 months of war have been walking through an apocalyptic landscape to return to whatever remains of their homes, while rescuers trawl the rubble for bodies.
"Gaza is like a massive demolition site," Mr Trump said as he signed a flurry of executive orders following his inauguration.
A United Nations damage assessment released this month showed that clearing over 50 million tonnes of rubble left in the aftermath of Israel's bombardment could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2 billion.
To make matters worse, some of the debris is believed to be contaminated with asbestos, as some of Gaza's devastated refugee camps, built up into cities since the 1940s, are known to have been constructed with the material.
Displaced Gazan Ghadeer Abdul Rabbo told AFP she hopes that "with or without Trump", the ceasefire will hold and world governments will help "maintain this calm, because we are afraid".
If all goes to plan, during the initial 42-day phase of the truce that began Sunday, a total of 33 hostages are to be returned from Gaza in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians.
Over those six weeks, the parties are meant to negotiate a permanent ceasefire.
Three Israeli hostages, all women, were reunited with their families on Sunday after more than 15 months in captivity.
Hours later, 90 Palestinian prisoners were released from an Israeli jail.
The first group of Palestinians released under the deal left Ofer prison in the West Bank early yesterday, with jubilant crowds celebrating their arrival in the nearby town of Beitunia.
The next hostage-prisoner swap should take place on Saturday, a senior Hamas official has said.
The relatives of the three Israelis freed on Sunday called for the release of the remaining 91 captives seized during Hamas's 7 October 2023, attack that sparked the war, including 34 the military says are dead.
The war has devastated much of Gaza and displaced the vast majority of its population of 2.4 million.
Gaza health authorities say at least 47,000 people have been killed in the conflict, with the rubble likely holding the remains of thousands more.
More than 900 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza yesterday with a further 897 entering today, the United Nations said.