Palestinian health officials say Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians in two raids in the occupied West Bank, as the military appeared to launch operations in several cities at once.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said two men were killed in Jenin and seven in Tubas early Wednesday. The ministry identified the two killed in Jenin as Qassam Muhammad Jabarin, 25, and Asem Walid Balout, 39.
The Israeli military confirmed it was operating in Jenin and Tulkarem, another West Bank city, but did not provide further details.
Palestinian militant groups said they were exchanging fire with the Israeli military. The governor of Jenin, Kamal Abu al-Rub, said on Palestinian radio that Israeli forces had surrounded the city, blocking exit and entry points and access to hospitals, and ripping up infrastructure in the camp.
Palestinian health officials say that over 600 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, most from raids into Palestinian cities and towns that Israel says target militant groups.
The reports came a day after the Israeli military said it had rescued a hostage who was among scores of people abducted in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, was rescued “in a complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip,” the military said Tuesday.
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UNITED NATIONS — The Security Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a resolution that would extend the U.N peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon for a year and demand a halt to the escalating exchanges between Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces.
Israel and Hezbollah pulled back after an exchange of heavy fire across the U.N.-drawn boundary between Israel and Lebanon known as the Blue Line over the weekend, but their decades-old conflict is far from over and regional tensions linked to the war in Gaza are still high.
The French-drafted resolution demands full implementation of a 2006 resolution demanding a cessation of hostilities between the two sides and underlines “that further escalation carries the high risk of leading to a widespread conflict.”
The draft, scheduled for a vote Wednesday morning, would extend the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL until Aug. 31, 2025.
UNIFIL was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after a 1978 invasion.
The Security Council expanded the mission after a 2006 war between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants so that peacekeepers could deploy along the Lebanon-Israel border to help Lebanese troops extend their authority into their country’s south for the first time in decades. That resolution also called for a full cessation of Israeli-Hezbollah hostilities, which has not happened.
The resolution to be voted on Wednesday strongly urges the “relevant actors” to implement “immediate measures towards de-escalation, including with a view to restoring calm, restraint and stability across the Blue Line.”
WASHINGTON — Efforts to reach and assist the Greek-flagged tanker that remains ablaze in the Red Sea have been blocked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters that the U.S. is “aware of a third party that attempted to send two tugs to the vessel to help salvage, but they were warned away by the Houthis and threatened with being attacked.”
He did not identify the “third party,” but said the Houthis’ actions demonstrate “their blatant disregard for not only human life, but also for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents.”
A French destroyed previously rescued the crew and security personnel from the tanker.
He said U.S. Central Command has been monitoring the situation to determine how best to assist the Sounion, which is loaded with 150,000 tons (136,000 metric tons) of Iraqi crude oil, and mitigate any environmental impact.
Right now, however, there are no U.S. Navy ships in the Red Sea or nearby in the Gulf of Aden.
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