Israel deploys tanks as assault on occupied West Bank intensifies
The Israeli military has launched several new raids across the occupied West Bank, intensifying a monthlong operation that has killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands.
During the raids on Sunday and into Monday, Israeli tanks were deployed in the occupied Palestinian territory for the first time in more than two decades.
Reports that the army is planning to open up military corridors in the West Bank suggested an extended and expanded campaign.
Israeli raids hit areas across the West Bank as bulldozers and armoured vehicles continued to pound Jenin and Tulkarem, where large refugee camps are located.
Soldiers were reported to have stormed Jenin from the west, besieging the refugee camp and the areas adjacent to it.
They also imposed a curfew in the town of Qabatiya to the south for a second straight day and stormed the nearby towns of al-Yamoun and Burqin.
The al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, reported on Telegram that it was fighting with Israeli forces in Jenin.
'Ominous sign'
Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, neighbouring Jordan and the Arab League called on Monday for a halt to the intensifying attacks.
Brazil also urged a full suspension of Israeli military attacks and unimpeded international aid access to the occupied territory.
The deployment of tanks is an ominous sign, Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh reported from Amman, Jordan, because Al Jazeera is banned from Israel and the West Bank by the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority.
'The Israeli media is quoting sources close to the prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] saying that the army is intending to create large corridors in Tulkarem and Jenin – reminiscent of the so-called Netzarim Corridor in Gaza – in order to allow free movement for its forces and heavy equipment,' she said.
The Israeli-established and -occupied Netzarim Corridor bisected Gaza and prevented displaced Palestinians from going back to their homes. It is feared that a similar tactic in the West Bank would illustrate a plan to extend and expand the ongoing operation.
Hamas, which along with the Palestinian Authority condemned Israel for assaults in the West Bank, said Israel's wish to stay there is 'an illusion that will not come true'.
The Palestinian Authority called for urgent international intervention to 'curb Israel's unchecked aggression' and its effort to continue 'genocide' against Palestinians.
More than 40,000 people have been displaced from Jenin and Tulkarem, including its Nur Shams refugee camp, by the ongoing Israeli operation, which began shortly after the ceasefire in Gaza began on January 19.
Israeli Minister of Defence Israel Katz confirmed the number on Sunday, adding that the army intends to stay in the camps to prevent the return of residents.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday raised alarm about the Israeli attacks on the West Bank while warning against a return to fighting in Gaza.
'I am gravely concerned by the rising violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers and other violations as well as calls for annexation,' he said.
Israeli settlers, who are often backed by armed soldiers, carry out daily attacks in the occupied territory.
Videos released by Palestinian outlets from overnight into Monday showed settlers scrawling a Star of David and Hebrew graffiti on a Palestinian property and lighting a fire during an attack on farmland east of Yatta in the Hebron governorate.
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