JERUSALEM 

Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has instructed the army to prepare for large-scale operations in the occupied West Bank, a day after a ceasefire deal took effect in Gaza.

“Alongside enhanced defensive preparations in the Gaza Strip, we must be ready for significant operations in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) in the coming days,” Halevi said in a statement on Monday.

The goal, according to Halevi, is to preempt Palestinian fighters and apprehend them.

The statement did not specify the locations of these operations, though activity in recent years has largely concentrated in the northern West Bank.

The army said Halevi’s remarks followed an assessment of the current situation in the Palestinian territories.

According to the statement, the chief of staff also ordered the military to draft plans for continued combat operations in Gaza and Lebanon.

Halevi’s statements came one day after the ceasefire and prisoner swap agreement came into force in Gaza on Sunday, suspending Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinian enclave.

The 3-phase deal includes a prisoner exchange and sustained calm, aiming for a permanent truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Nearly 47,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 110,700 others injured in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli war has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst global humanitarian disasters ever.

In November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio