Netanyahu visits West Bank camp, tells army to step up raids after blasts

1. Netanyahu visits West Bank camp, tells army to step up raids after blasts

Netanyahu visits West Bank camp, tells army to step up raids after blasts AFP | Feb 21, 2025 09:37 PM IST Read this news in brief form Share Via Copy Link Netanyahu visits West Bank camp, tells army to step up raids after blasts

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Tulkarem refugee camp in the northern West Bank on Friday, ordering the army to intensify a month-old offensive there after three bombs exploded on Israeli buses, his office said.

Netanyahu visits West Bank camp, tells army to step up raids after blasts

"Netanyahu visited a short while ago Tulkarem refugee camp" and ordered more "operational activity" in the area, his office said, after the rare visit to a camp in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Days after a ceasefire took effect in Gaza, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the north of the West Bank that it dubbed "Iron Wall".

Spanning multiple refugee camps near the cities of Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas, the operation has killed at least 40 Palestinians and displaced at least 40,000, according to the UN.

Netanyahu said the army was doing "very important work against Hamas and other terrorist organisations' desire to harm us".

He said that Israel had intensified its raids over the past year, fighting in camps it deems to contain Palestinian militant factions.

"We are entering terrorist strongholds, flattening entire streets that terrorists use, and their homes. We are eliminating terrorists, commanders."

His visit to Tulkarem comes after three buses exploded in the central Israeli city of Bat Yam late on Thursday without causing any injuries.

A police commander from central Israel, Haim Sargarof, said in a televised briefing that the devices used to set off the blasts were similar to those found in the West Bank.

Violence in the West Bank has surged since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 898 Palestinians, including many militants, in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

At least 32 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military raids in the territory over the same period, according to Israeli official figures.