Israeli security forces backed by helicopters raided the volatile West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday, killing at least four Palestinians in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a "large-scale and significant military operation".
The action, launched a day after U.S. President Donald Trump declared he was lifting sanctions on violent Israeli settlers who attacked Palestinian villages, was announced by Netanyahu as a new offensive against Iranian-backed militant groups.
"We are acting systematically and resolutely against the Iranian axis wherever it extends its arms – in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Judea and Samaria," Netanyahu said. Judea and Samaria are terms Israel uses for the occupied West Bank.
The military said soldiers, police and intelligence services had begun a counter-terrorism action in Jenin. It follows a weeks-long operation by Palestinian security forces to reassert control in the adjacent refugee camp, a major centre of armed militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
As the operation began, Palestinian forces withdrew from the refugee camp and the sound of heavy gunfire could be heard in mobile phone footage shared on social media.
Palestinian health services said at least four Palestinians were killed and 35 wounded as the Israeli raid began.
The move into Jenin, where the Israeli army has carried out multiple raids and large-scale incursions over recent years, comes only two days after the start of a ceasefire in Gaza and underscores the threat of more violence in the West Bank.
Hardline pro-settler Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has responsibility for large parts of Israeli policy in the West Bank, said the operation was the start of a "strong and ongoing campaign" against militant groups "for the protection of settlements and settlers".
Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land Israel captured in 1967. Most countries consider Israel's settlements on territory seized in war to be illegal. Israel disputes this, citing historical and biblical ties to the land.
The internationally recognised Palestinian Authority has limited self rule over some territory in the West Bank under Israeli military occupation.
In the days leading up to the operation, Palestinians throughout the West Bank said multiple road blocks had been set up throughout the territory, which has seen an upsurge in violence since the start of the war in Gaza.
Late on Monday, bands of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians, smashing cars and burning property, near the village of al-Funduq, in an area where three Israelis were killed in a shooting earlier this month.
The military said it had opened an investigation into the incident, which it said involved dozens of Israeli civilians, some in masks.
