Israeli army blows up vehicle, raids houses in West Bank’s Tubas

By Awad Rajoob

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - The Israeli army blew up a vehicle and raided homes Wednesday in Tubas in the occupied West Bank amid armed confrontations with Palestinian fighters.

Witnesses told Anadolu that Israeli forces surrounded a house and arrested a Palestinian from the Al-Mishmas neighborhood in the town of Tamun in southern Tubas.​​​​​​​

Soldiers raided the center of the city and arrested a Palestinian at his home.

Kafaya Abdul Salam, the detainee's mother, recounted her shock as soldiers appeared at her window while she was preparing food.

She said soldiers forced her family into one part of the house and conducted a search, causing damage before arresting her son.

Witnesses, meanwhile, reported that Palestinian resistance fighters targeted Israeli forces with an explosive device in the town of Tayasir in eastern Tubas.

Armed clashes between resistance fighters and Israeli soldiers erupted in several parts of the city.

Footage on social media showed a burning vehicle, which activists said was blown up by the Israeli army.

Earlier Wednesday, five Palestinians were killed by Israeli shelling in Tubas, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and the Ministry of Health.

Tubas Gov. Ahmad Al-Asaad told Anadolu that Israel imposed a curfew in the city, sending military reinforcements to several neighborhoods.

The current operations also extend to the city and refugee camp in Tulkarem, where military activities have continued for a second consecutive day.

That follows a broader offensive launched Aug. 28, which targeted Jenin and Tulkarem and their refugee camps, as well as Tubas and the Al-Fara refugee camp, lasting 10 days before the military withdrew.

Tension has been running high across the West Bank amid Israel’s devastating military offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 41,000 victims, mostly women and children, since last Oct. 7.

Nearly 700 people have since been killed and more than 5,700 injured by Israeli fire in the West Bank, according to the Health Ministry.

The escalation followed a landmark opinion by the International Court of Justice on July 19 that declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio