UN calls for de-escalation as Israeli West Bank raids continue

Five more Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in a second day of raids in the occupied West Bank, with the UN calling for de-escalation.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they were “five terrorists who had hidden inside a mosque” in Tulkarm, near the boundary with Israel.

Israel began what it said was a major counter-terrorism operation in the West Bank on Wednesday. There have been conflicting death tolls as the operation unfolded across multiple cities.

The IDF said yesterday that nine militants had been killed, five in Jenin and Tulkarm, and four in al-Faraa refugee camp. The Palestinian health ministry said on Thursday that 12 people had been killed in IDF attacks so far.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called on Israel to immediately halt its operation, saying it was “fuelling an already explosive situation”.

He urged Israeli forces to “exercise maximum restraint and use lethal force only when it is strictly unavoidable”.

The IDF said the five Palestinians were killed after “exchanges of fire” in Tulkarm.

It identified one of the fatalities as Mohammed Jaber – also known as Abu Shujaa – who was reportedly the local leader of the Tulkarem Brigade, which is backed by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group.

The IDF said Jaber was linked to a number of attacks on Israelis, and was planning more.

Elsewhere, in Jenin, ambulances are stopped and checked by military jeeps parked around the government hospital as security forces continue their operation in the city’s refugee camp.

The camp is a base for armed groups, as well as a home to unarmed civilians, and has been the scene of many fierce gun battles in the past.

There’s little news coming out from the camp at the moment, with Israeli forces blocking access and Palestinian phone networks down.

Residents, medics and journalists have been trying to read the situation inside from the occasional explosions and bursts of gunfire heard since last night.

One person inside told the BBC that it appears calm at the moment, and they can hear drones buzzing overhead.

It is the second day of what Israeli media say could be a days-long operation in the West Bank.

The Israeli military said it had made arrests and seized weapons.

Homes and infrastructure were damaged in the attacks, Palestinians said.

It is the largest such action in the West Bank since the days of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, two decades ago.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said the operation has a “clear goal: preventing Iranian terror-by-proxy that would harm Israeli civilians”.

In recent days Israeli politicians have accused Iran – which backs both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad – of trying to smuggle in explosive devices with the aim of attacking Israel.

Israel “cannot sit idly by and wait for the spectacle of buses and cafes exploding in city centres”, Mr Danon said in a post on X.

There has been a spike in violence in the West Bank since Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel, and the subsequent war in Gaza.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Israel’s operation in the West Bank “must not constitute the premises of a war extension from Gaza”.

Elsewhere on Thursday, Mr Borrell said he was starting the process of asking EU members if they want to impose sanctions on “some Israeli ministers”.

He accused the ministers – who he has not named – of “launching unacceptable hate messages against the Palestinians, and proposing things that clearly go against international law”.