Israel's biggest military assault in two decades on the occupied West Bank has entered its third day, with the army, accompanied by bulldozers, leaving a trail of destruction after firing live ammunition and tear gas.
Early Friday, witnesses said three people were killed after Israeli forces attacked a car in the village of Zababdeh, south of Jenin.
The Israeli military said one of its planes had “attacked a terrorist squad” there following a “clash with security forces.” Footage from the attack shows a car engulfed in flames.
The Jenin Battalion of the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said earlier that its fighters engaged in “fierce clashes” with Israeli soldiers in Jenin.
The Israeli military said the dead included Wassam Hazem, Hamas's chief in Jenin. There was no immediate confirmation from the Palestinian group.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Israeli forces prevented ambulances from reaching the scene of the attack, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Israeli forces withdrew from the town of Tulkarem and its two refugee camps on Thursday evening after a 48-hour operation that killed four people and inflicted widespread destruction on civilian property and infrastructure.
Reporting from the Nur Shams refugee camp, Al Jazeera's Nida Ibrahim said Palestinian Civil Defence teams were trying to repair some of the damage caused by the Israeli attack and that destroyed roads were complicating any movement.
“If the Palestinians fix a water line here, an electricity line there, Israeli forces could very soon return to ruin them again,” he said, adding that “Palestinians say Israel wants to make sure that their lives, particularly in refugee camps, become more complicated, giving them no choice but to leave.”
Israeli forces also withdrew from the Far'a refugee camp south of Tubas, where four people were killed and civilian property and infrastructure were destroyed.
While the worst violence has occurred in Jenin, Tulakrem and Tubas (all towns in the northern West Bank), Israeli forces have also attacked other locations, including Nablus and the nearby Balata refugee camp, the town of Anabta east of Tulkarem, the village of Husan west of Bethlehem, and parts of Hebron governorate.
The Israeli army has made at least five arrests near Hebron and Ramallah, Wafa reported on Friday.
At least 20 people, including children, have been killed since the Israeli incursion began on Wednesday, according to Palestinian health authorities and human rights groups. The Israeli military claims to have killed 12 Palestinian fighters.
The Israeli military says its attacks are targeting members of armed groups and there have been exchanges of fire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters in several locations.
However, residents say Israeli troops are deliberately attacking refugee camps and also destroying roads and infrastructure. Some fear the long-term strategy is to drive Palestinians out of their own homes.
“The Israelis are creating an environment that pushes people to leave, destroying the infrastructure almost completely and cutting off electricity and water; they want to leave people with nothing so that in the end they have no choice but to leave on their own,” activist Hussein al-Sheikh Ali told Al Jazeera in Tulkarem.
But Al Jazeera's Ibrahim also said: “People talk a lot about defiance. They say they know that Israeli forces want to make life difficult for them… and that is exactly why they are here to stay.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday called for the “temporary evacuation” of Palestinians from the West Bank to fight armed groups there, a statement that activists warn could pave the way for the territory to meet a similar fate to Gaza in terms of massive destruction and displacement.
