Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) carried out overnight raids in the occupied West Bank, arresting hundreds and killing two people in the Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Residents of Jalazone told Reuters news agency on Monday that Israeli forces raided the camp and carried out widespread arrests, where they clashed with gunmen and youths who threw stones.
According to the reports, about 20 people were arrested, as confirmed by the Health Ministry.
Meanwhile, residents said the Israeli forces have currently retreated to the outskirts of the camp.
However, the Israeli army has not stated the incidents, even as reports indicate that at least 120 militants alleged to be Palestinians were napped across the West Bank overnight.
According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, the arrests included 59 in the city of Hebron, among which were 40 workers from the Gaza Strip.
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The foreign policy chief of the European Union, Josep Borrell, has called for faster aid deliveries to Gaza, saying the bloc’s 27 foreign ministers would debate calling for a “humanitarian pause” in the war.
“I think a humanitarian pause is needed to allow the humanitarian support to come in and be distributed, seeing that half of the population of Gaza has been moving from their houses,” Borrell said.
Meanwhile, Norway has given backing to the war crime probe.
Norwegian Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl condemned attacks on civilians and announced Norway is “prepared to provide resources quickly” if the country receives a request to contribute to an investigation of possible war crimes in Gaza and Israel.
“War crimes are never acceptable,” and “those guilty of any war crimes must be held accountable,” the minister said in a statement on Monday, according to a CNN report.
“Regardless of who is behind it, civilians have special protection against attacks in a conflict,” Mehl said, reiterating that Norway “will make available capacity related to a possible investigation of war crimes in Gaza and Israel if desired.”
“It is inhumane how civilians are affected in the bloody conflict in Gaza and Israel,” Mehl added. “Thousands of civilians have already been killed on both sides. Norway condemns illegal attacks on civilians regardless of who commits them.”
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Mehl also urged the international community to “come together to protect fundamental principles in a war.”
Some 19,646 people have left villages in south Lebanon due to cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israel, the UN’s International Organisation for Migration said Monday.
The Iran-backed Shiite group has launched increasing attacks on Israel, raising fears it intends to open a Lebanese front in support of ally Hamas.
Israel has ordered the evacuation of thousands of people from a string of communities near its northern border without giving an exact figure for the displaced.
At least 40 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally, mostly combatants but also at least four civilians, one of them a Reuters journalist. Four people have been killed in Israel, including three soldiers and a civilian.
by our Correspondents with Agency reports
