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

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a rare visit Friday to troops operating in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, ordering the military to intensify its raids in the area and drawing condemnation from the Palestinian Authority.

Netanyahu went to the Tulkarem refugee camp in the north of the Palestinian territory a day after bombs exploded on multiple buses in central Israel, with Israeli officials saying the devices used were similar to ones employed in the West Bank.

The prime minister's office said he had visited the camp and ordered more "operational activity" in the northern West Bank.

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

Days after a ceasefire took effect in Gaza, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the territory's north dubbed "Iron Wall", spanning multiple refugee camps near the cities of Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas.

At least 51 Palestinians, including seven children, have been killed since the military assault began, according to the UN.

Three Israeli soldiers have also been killed during the same period, it said.

On Friday, a 13-year-old girl was killed by military "live fire" in Tulkarem, the Palestinian ministry of health in Ramallah said in a statement.

The girl's death came a day after another Palestinian was killed when his car was struck by an armoured military vehicle just outside of Tulkarem camp, local governor Abdallah Kamil told AFP.

The military offensive has displaced at least 40,000 people, according to the UN's office for humanitarian coordination.

It is the longest in the West Bank since the Second Intifada, a Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s.

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.

'Storming'  

In Tulkarem, as in Jenin, the Israeli army has demolished dozens of homes with explosives, clearing entire roads through the densely built camps.

Armoured D9 bulldozers have wreaked havoc in the camps of the area, upturning tarmac, cutting off the water supply as they break pipes, and stripping buildings of their facades.

Palestinians on social media expressed shock at a photo shared by Netanyahu's office showing him meeting with army officers in a command centre that appeared to have been established inside a camp resident's home.

The foreign ministry of the Palestinian Authority condemned in a statement the "storming by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu... into the northern occupied West Bank refugee camp of Tulkarem".

Netanyahu's visit came after three buses exploded in the central Israeli city of Bat Yam late 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.