By Abdul Adil
[AA, Al Jazeera, Wafa, NNA, The Muslim News):
Palestinian medics recovered the bodies of 53 people from under the rubble in Gaza, pushing the overall death toll from Israel’s war on the enclave since October 2023 to 47,161, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
A ministry statement said that 19 injured people were also admitted to hospitals in the last 24 hours, taking the number of the injured to 111,166 in the Israeli onslaught.
“Many people are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
Just as cease fire agreement was signed, Israeli forces concentrated its attacks in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli occupation forces Wednesday evening conducted multiple raids across the occupied West Bank governorate of Ramallah and al-Bireh, according to local sources.
They said that the occupation forces raided the villages of Kafr ‘Ein and Qarawat Bani Zeid, the town of Beit Rima, all located to the northwest of Ramallah, in addition to Turmusayya town, northeast of Ramallah.
Israeli occupation forces continued on Wednesday their tightened siege on the city of Jericho, imposing severe restrictions on movement and inflicting significant damage on the city’s economy, particularly its agricultural and tourism sectors.
Witnesses reported that Israeli forces raided Jericho via Jerusalem Street on Wednesday, sparking confrontations during which live ammunition and tear gas canisters were fired by the army.
Forces also seized a truck in the southern part of the city.
Hussein Hamayel, Governor of Jericho and the Jordan Valley, highlighted the dire economic impact of the siege, noting that agricultural prices have plummeted by 90%, devastating farmers. The tourism sector is also experiencing unprecedented losses, he added.
The four main entrances to Jericho remain blocked with military checkpoints, causing severe delays. Hundreds of vehicles were piled up at the checkpoint, as Israeli forces inspected vehicles and checked passengers’ identification cards.
Israeli occupying forces barged their way into Turmusayya town, northeast of Ramallah, and deployed in the vicinity of the municipal building, but without triggering confrontations and causing any casualties.
In Jenin governorate, the Israeli forces stormed Fahma village and fired barrages of tear gas canisters towards the villagers, sparking confrontations.
In Bethlehem governorate, Israeli soldiers carried out a similar raid into al-Khader town, deployed at the main Jerusalem-Hebron Road and showered local stores with tear gas canisters, but without resulting in any casualty.
In addition illegal Israeli settlers Wednesday evening attacked Palestinians’ vehicles north of Madama village, located to the south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, according to local sources.
They said that settlers barged their way into the top part of a bridge, north of the village, sealed off the bypass road and attacked vehicles with Palestinian registration plates, but without resulting in casualties.
Settlers violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.
Israeli occupation forces Wednesday evening also besieged a house in Birqin village, west of the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, according to eyewitnesses.
They said that the occupation troops surrounded the house and ordered those inside the house via loudspeakers to surrender, triggering confrontations.
The heavily armed soldiers used military drones to fire ENERGA anti-tank missiles at the house, at a time when additional military reinforcements made their way to the town.
Hassan Subh, Mayor of Briqin, told WAFA that in the course of the raid, the soldiers used women as human shields.
This came as the Israeli occupation forces launched a massive raid on Jenin city and refugee camp, resulting in ten fatalities and 40 casualties just on Tuesday.
Israeli forces Wednesday also raided the archaeological site of Sabastiya, northwest of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, according to municipal source.
Mohammad Azzem, Mayor of Sabastiya, said that the occupying soldiers forced store owners to shut down their stores near the site.
Located 11 kilometers northwest of Nablus, Sebastia is a small historical town nestled on a hill with panoramic views across the West Bank and has a population of some 3,000 Palestinians.
A prominent settlement during the Iron Age as well as the Hellenistic and Roman eras, the town embraces a Roman amphitheater, temples, Byzantine and crusader churches, dedicated to Saint John the Forerunner, who baptized Jesus Christ in the Jordan River, besides a mosque built in honor of the saint. Christians and Muslims believe the town to be the burial place of the saint.
Israel has been attempting to take over the town, which has become a site of heated cultural conflict, preventing the Palestinian Authority from conducting restoration works at the site, prohibiting providing tourist services to visitors from around the world, and stealing antiquities from it.
Palestinians complain that Israeli settlers have repeatedly attacked the town and fenced parts of its antiquities, where they hold religious rituals.
Twelve dunums of the archaeological area are located within (B) areas, which are controlled by the Israeli military and Palestinian administrative authority, while the other part of the area lies within (C) areas, which fall under complete Israeli administrative and military control.
Owners of restaurants and hotels complain about the Israeli acts in the town which have caused them severe damages and losses.
Almost 834,000 illegal Israeli settlers are living in colonies in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
At least 25 Palestinians were detained in fresh Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank, according to prisoners’ affairs groups on Wednesday.
Former prisoners were among the detainees in the raids that targeted Hebron, Jenin, Tulkarem, and Ramallah, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.
Israeli soldiers interrogated dozens of Palestinians in several towns during the raids before releasing them, it added.
The raids came as the Israeli army continued a military operation for the second day in a row in the northern city of Jenin, killing at least 10 people and injuring 40 others.
The new arrests brought the number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli army in the West Bank since October 2023 to over 14,300, including those who were released after being arrested, according to Palestinian figures.
Around 2,000 Palestinian families have been displaced from the Jenin refugee camp amid an Israeli military offensive that is in its second day, an official in the city in the occupied West Bank, told Anadolu on Wednesday
The families have dispersed to nearby villages under harsh conditions, lacking the basic necessities, Bashir Matahin, the municipality’s public relations officer, told Anadolu.
“A large-scale displacement was recorded today before the Israeli army, in the evening hours, prevented residents from leaving and informed them to try again on Thursday morning,” he said.
The official noted that humanitarian conditions of displaced people are “dire,” with communities in receiving villages stepping in to provide basic needs “as officials and non-governmental institutions in Jenin city remain restricted from movement.”
The UN on Wednesday warned about the Israeli army’s raids in the occupied West Bank amid a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas.
Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq cited the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OCHA when he warned that the operation by Israel in the city of Jenin “is putting people’s safety and welfare at risk while destroying infrastructure as basic as roads, electricity and water pipes.”
“Ten people have reportedly been killed, with dozens more injured,” he added.
Saying that the Jenin Governmental Hospital in the northern West Bank is not receiving water and electricity, Haq reported that the facility “relies on dwindling water reserves from emergency tanks that were installed just weeks ago in preparation for such situations” via an allocation by the Occupied Palestinian Territory Humanitarian Fund that is managed by OCHA.
LEBANON
Lebanon’s National News Agency reports that the Israeli attacks caused two large explosions on the outskirts of the border town of Meiss el-Jabal.
Earlier, the agency reported that the Israeli army burned down homes in neighbouring Taybeh.
Meanwhile, Acting Lebanese Army Commander Maj. Gen. Hassane Ouda met Wednesday with US Gen. Jasper Jeffers, head of the committee monitoring a ceasefire agreement with Israel, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.
The meeting at the Lebanese Defense Ministry in Beirut was held with 72 hours remaining until a deadline for Israel’s withdrawal from all areas it occupied in southern Lebanon during its recent war.
Ouda received Jeffers at his office, accompanied by French Gen. Guillaume Bonchin, a member of the ceasefire monitoring committee.
Developments in southern Lebanon and the progress of implementing the ceasefire agreement were discussed, according to the news outlet, without providing details.
The Israeli army committed eight ceasefire violations in Lebanon on Wednesday, bringing the total to 629 breaches since the agreement took effect Nov. 27.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place, ending a period of mutual shelling between Israel and the Lebanese resistance group, Hezbollah, that began Oct. 8, 2023, and escalated into full-scale conflict Sept. 23.
YEMEN
The Yemeni Houthi [Ansar Allah] group released on Wednesday the crew of an Israeli ship after a ceasefire deal that halted Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.
“We announce the release of the crew of the Galaxy Leader vessel that was seized on Nov. 19, 2023 as part of our support battle for Gaza,” the Houthi Political Bureau said in a statement cited by the state news agency Saba.
The statement, however, did not specify how many crew members were released.
[Photo: Palestinian families forced to flee their homes moving to other areas, on January 22, 2025 in Jenin, West Bank by Israeli army continued attacks on the city of Jenin and the refugee camp in the north of the West Bank today. Photojournalist: Issam Rimawi/AA]