"Israeli" forces to stay in northern West Bank camps until year’s end, says Katz

"Israeli" Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said on Sunday that "Israeli" forces will remain deployed in refugee camps in the northern West Bank until at least the end of the year.

Israeli Occupation Forces have launched an offensive in January targeting armed groups in the northern West Bank, focusing on refugee camps in the Jenin and Tulkarm areas.

Katz described the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams camps as “hotbeds of terrorism,” claiming they were financed and armed by Iran to serve as another front against "Israel". He added that over the past eight months, the army carried out a “massive” operation that evacuated residents, killed militants, and destroyed infrastructure used by armed factions.

“The IDF will remain inside the camps during this stage, at least until the end of the year, under my directives,” Katz said, adding that following the large-scale operation, “there is no terrorism in the camps today.”

The United Nations and the European Union have condemned the operation, with the UN stating that women and children were among those killed.

In February, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights highlighted what it called “an unprecedented scale of mass displacement not seen in decades in the occupied West Bank.”