The UN is calling for a de-escalation as Israeli attacks on the West Bank continue

The Israeli army has attacked the West Bank for the second day, which led to the United Nations being postponed.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Wednesday it was starting a “campaign against terrorism”. On Thursday, it said 12 people were killed in the cities of Jenin and Tulkarm and four in Far’a.

The Ministry of Health in Palestine also reported that 16 people have been killed since Wednesday morning.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Israel to immediately stop its operations, saying it is “fueling an already explosive situation”.

He called on the Israeli military to exercise “extreme restraint and use lethal force only when unavoidable”.

The IDF said five were killed after an “exchange of fire” in Tulkarm with soldiers “hiding inside the mosque”. It said seven people died in Jenin.

Mohammed Jaber, also known as Abu Shujaa, was among those killed, according to the Israeli military. He was reportedly the local leader of the Tulkarem Brigade, supported by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group.

The IDF said Jaber has been linked to several attacks on Israel, and is planning more.

The Tulkarm Brigade said in a statement on Telegram that its soldiers attacked an Israeli army unit “in response to the killing of our commander”, without naming him.

The IDF said it arrested 10 wanted suspects and found explosives and weapons during raids in Tulkarm and Jenin.

In Far’a where the IDF said it killed four armed soldiers inside a car.

Mission of Palestine to the UN condemned the attack in a letter on Thursday, it said that Israeli forces “entered homes, deliberately targeted civilians, destroyed important infrastructure and besieged four major hospitals in the area”.

In response to this criticism, the IDF referred the BBC to its earlier statements that it had targeted armed terrorists, and that some related to previous attacks.

In Jenin, ambulances were parked and monitored by military planes parked near a government hospital as security forces continued their work in the city’s refugee camp.

The camp is a stronghold of armed groups, and home to unarmed civilians, and has been the scene of many fierce gun battles in the past.

Israeli forces have blocked access to the camp and Palestinian telephone networks are down.

It is the second day of what Israeli media say could be a multi-day operation in the West Bank.

It is one of the largest such actions in the West Bank since the days of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, two decades ago.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said the operation “has a clear objective: to prevent Iranian terrorists from harming Israeli citizens”.

In recent days, Israeli politicians have accused Iran – which supports Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad – of trying to smuggle explosives into Israel.

Israel “cannot sit idly by and wait for the spectacle of buses and restaurants exploding in the city center”, said Mr Danon in the X post.

There has been an outbreak of violence in the West Bank since Hamas attacked Israel on the 7th, and the subsequent war in Gaza.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Israel’s operation in the West Bank “must not be a place for an extension of the war from Gaza”.

He said he is starting a process to ask EU members if they want to impose sanctions on other “Israeli ministers”.

He accused the ministers – who he did not identify – of “presenting unacceptable hateful messages against the Palestinian people, and proposing things that are in clear conflict with international law”.