NOS News • today, 01:05 At least 18 dead in Israeli attacks on West Bank
At least 18 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported. The Israeli Air Force confirmed the fighter jet attack.
According to the army, Hamas commander Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi was killed in the airstrikes. According to the army, Oufi was the head of a Hamas network in Tulkarm and responsible for planning a car bombing last month. He is also said to have played a role in several attacks on Israeli civilians.
Israel has been carrying out attacks on the West Bank more often, but mainly by means of drones or helicopters. Since October last year, at least 573 Palestinian civilians have been killed, according to figures from the UN organization OCHA.
West Bank Israel captured the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 1967, along with the Gaza Strip. Israel has occupied the area ever since. In parts of it, Palestinians have a form of self-government. Some three million Palestinians live in the West Bank. In addition, more than 600,000 Israeli settlers now live there. Under international law, the settlements in which they live are illegal.
Many Palestinians see the West Bank as part of their future state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, even though the prospects for this are increasingly remote. Serious peace negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders have not taken place for more than a decade.
In July of this year, the International Court of Justice ruled in a non-binding advisory opinion that Israel's presence in the West Bank violates international law. The court also found that Israel was guilty of racial segregation and apartheid.
