Israeli forces raid occupied West Bank as clashes continue in Jenin 

Israeli forces have launched numerous new raids across the occupied West Bank as conflicts linger between the Palestinian Authority and armed groups in Jenin.

At least 18 Palestinians were arrested by Israeli forces during a series of raids between Monday evening and Tuesday morning, the Israeli military said. The Palestinian Prisoners Society said those arrested included a wounded person.

The Israeli raids took place in the governorates of Nablus, Hebron, Tubas, Tulkarem, Qalqilya, Bethlehem, Salfit and Ramallah.

As with many daily incursions into Palestinian territories, the raids were accompanied by extensive searches, house demolitions and detentions without charge.

A young Palestinian man was killed at dawn on Tuesday by Israeli bullets during a storming of the Tulkarem refugee camp, according to the Wafa news agency. It cited witnesses as saying the man was shot by Israeli snipers, who then prevented ambulance crews from reaching him by firing at them. Israel said the person was killed during “face-to-face battles” with troops.

A large force of soldiers and armoured vehicles, accompanied by two heavy bulldozers, reportedly stormed Tulkarem city from its western axis, and headed towards the camp as drones flew at low altitudes.

Israeli military bulldozers demolished infrastructure in various neighbourhoods of the camp, affecting the water network and causing power outages and internet disruptions.

Palestinian fighters reported engaging in armed clashes with Israeli forces in Tulkarem, with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades coalition of armed groups saying fighters used automatic weapons and explosive devices.

During a raid in Nablus, at least three Palestinians were wounded and one was arrested after soldiers attacked the city, along with the Balata camp at dawn.

Israeli forces reportedly surrounded a house in the al-Tirawi neighbourhood inside the Balata camp and detained a young Palestinian while spreading through multiple other neighbourhoods.

There was also another large incursion into the town of Hizma, north of occupied Jerusalem, after a Palestinian man was gunned down a day earlier at a military checkpoint for allegedly attempting a knife attack on soldiers.

Local sources cited by the Wafa agency said Israeli bulldozers demolished the house of a resident and another home under construction. They also brought down olive trees with their bulldozers during the raid.

Air strikes have been rarer in the West Bank compared with daily attacks in Gaza, but Israel has increasingly relied on them there as well. An Israeli drone strike on Tubas on December 9 killed at least two people.

Israeli settlers have also been supported by soldiers in near-daily attacks on Palestinian farmers in the illegally occupied territories.

According to the latest figures by the United Nations, 736 Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, between the start of the war on Gaza and October 31.

Meanwhile, as the Israeli raids continue, Palestinian Authority security forces have been clashing with armed Palestinian fighters in Jenin for about 10 days.

Sources told Al Jazeera Arabic that confrontations also broke out on Tuesday in the south of the occupied West Bank governorate of Tubas. The fighting erupted after PA security forces confiscated equipment from a house in the town of Tammun.

The Israeli military has stayed out of the incursions in Jenin, despite a call by the heads of regional settlements to directly intervene.

PA forces have kept up with efforts to take full control of the city that is seen as a stronghold of armed resistance factions.

Several civilians, PA soldiers and armed fighters have been killed since the start of the “Operation Protect the Homeland”, including Jenin Brigades commander Yazid Ja’ayseh.

The fighting has focused Palestinian criticism on the PA, with the Popular Resistance Committees umbrella group accusing the organisation of operating “in line with the Zionist agenda”.

Last week, the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) reported that its health centre in Jenin was overtaken by armed actors and no longer in its control. All UNRWA services, including education and humanitarian aid, have been stopped for now in the camp.

According to the UN, eight Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank between December 9 and 15.

Of these, five were killed by Israeli forces, and three were killed by the PA. During this period, an estimated 158 Palestinians were detained by Israeli forces, and 14 Palestinians were held by the PA.