RAMALLAH, Palestine

The Palestinian death toll from an ongoing Israeli military operation in the northern West Bank has risen to 39 since last week, the Health Ministry said on Thursday. 

“Eight children and two elderly people were among the victims,” a ministry statement said, adding that some 145 other people were also injured. 

The highest death toll was recorded in Jenin city with 19 fatalities and Tubas with 10 deaths, the ministry said. 

The Israeli army launched on August 28 its largest military operation in the northern West Bank in two decades, causing massive destruction in the area. 

Jenin Mayor Nidal al-Obaidi on Wednesday declared the northern West Bank city a “disaster area” as the Israeli army continued its operations there. 

"The Israeli army is continuing to destroy the infrastructure in Jenin and its camp," he told Anadolu. 

Early Thursday, the Israeli army withdrew from Tulkarem and its refugee camp amid massive destruction to the city's infrastructure, according to local sources. 

Tension has been running high across the occupied West Bank as Israel pressed ahead with its brutal onslaught on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 40,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7 last year. 

At least 691 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 Ahmed Asmar