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Israeli forces have launched numerous new attacks in the occupied West Bank as clashes continue between the Palestinian Authority and armed groups in Jenin.
At least 18 Palestinians were arrested by Israeli forces in a series of raids between Monday night and Tuesday morning, the Israeli army said. The Palestinian Prisoners' Society reported that one person was injured among those arrested.
The Israeli attacks took place in the provinces 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 early Tuesday by Israeli bullets during an assault on the Tulkarem refugee camp, according to the Wafa news agency. He cited witnesses who said the man was shot dead by Israeli snipers, who then prevented ambulance crews from reaching him by shooting at them. Israel said the man was killed during “face-to-face fighting” with troops.
A large force of soldiers and armored vehicles accompanied by two heavy bulldozers reportedly invaded the town of Tulkarem from its western axis and targeted the camp while drones flew at low altitude.
Israeli military bulldozers destroyed infrastructure in various neighborhoods of the camp, affecting the water supply network and causing power and internet outages.
Palestinian militants reported engaging in armed clashes with Israeli forces in Tulkarem, with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades coalition of armed groups saying the militants used automatic weapons and explosive devices.
In an attack 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 neighborhood of the Balata camp and detained a young Palestinian man as they spread into numerous other neighborhoods.
There was another major incursion in the town of Hizma, north of occupied Jerusalem, after a Palestinian was shot dead a day earlier at a military checkpoint for an alleged attempted knife attack on soldiers.
Local sources quoted by the Wafa news agency said that Israeli bulldozers demolished a resident's house and another home under construction. They also toppled olive trees with their bulldozers during the attack.
Airstrikes are less frequent in the West Bank than the daily attacks in Gaza, but Israel increasingly relies 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 almost daily attacks on Palestinian farmers in the illegally occupied territories.
According to the latest UN figures, 736 Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, between the start of the Gaza war and October 31.
Clashes continue in Jenin
Meanwhile, as Israeli attacks continue, Palestinian Authority security forces have been clashes 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 province of Tubas. The fight broke out after PA security forces seized equipment from a house in the town of Tamun.
The Israeli military has stayed away from raids in Jenin, despite calls from regional settlement leaders for direct intervention.
PA forces continue their efforts to take full control of the city, which is considered a stronghold of armed resistance factions.
Several civilians, PA soldiers and militants have been killed since the start of Operation Defend the Homeland, including The commander of the Jenin Brigades, Yazid Jaiseh.
The fighting has turned Palestinian criticism of the PA, with the Popular Resistance Committees group accusing the organization of working “in accordance with the Zionist agenda”.
Last week, the United Nations Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA) announced that its health center in Jenin had been taken over by armed actors and was no longer under its control. All UNRWA services, including education and humanitarian assistance, have been suspended in the camp for the time being.
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, approximately 158 Palestinians were detained by Israeli forces and 14 Palestinians were detained by the PA.
