RAMALLAH, Palestine

Palestinian rights groups accused the Israeli army on Thursday of conducting field executions and arrests in the West Bank city of Jenin amid an ongoing military operation in the area.

“The (Israeli) occupation forces continue their military operation in Jenin, arresting dozens of people, alongside field executions, harassment, and destruction of infrastructure, vandalism and home demolitions,” the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.

The Israeli army continued for the third day in a row on Thursday a deadly military offensive in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, killing at least 12 people and injuring 40 others.

Israeli media said the Jenin assault is part of a political maneuver by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to appease far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who opposed the recent Gaza ceasefire. Reports suggest that Netanyahu promised the attack to prevent Smotrich from resigning, which could collapse the government.

The rights groups said that at least 22 Palestinians were detained by the Israeli army in the West Bank since Wednesday evening.

Tension has been running high across the occupied West Bank due to Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, where nearly 47,300 victims have been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 111,400 injured since Oct. 7, 2023.

At least 873 Palestinians have since been killed and over 6,700 injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

A ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, suspending the Israeli war on the Palestinian enclave.

In July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land illegal and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio