A new Israeli “major” offensive is underway in the West Bank as Trump lifts sanctions on settlers.

An Israeli military operation in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank killed at least seven people on Tuesday, Palestinian health officials said, marking the third day of a new “large-scale” offensive by the Israeli Defense Forces in the area. A small ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank, unlike Gaza, which has been under Israeli military control and not controlled by Hamas, has reported deaths in the latest IDF operation.

In a statement at his office, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF and police forces had “launched a large-scale and significant military operation to eliminate terrorism in Jenin.”

Netanyahu called the operation “Iron Wall” and called it “another step to achieve our goal – to strengthen security in the West Bank” and “to take action against the Iranian axis, where it is strategically and decisively sending its hand.”

During the 15-month-long Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Jenin launched an attack targeting Israeli-held territory. The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, carried out its own attacks on the area late last year.

The violence in the West Bank escalated During the war in Gaza, Israel said it was working to eliminate the militancy supported by Iran. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 800 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in the West Bank since the start of the war following the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas. Several And the Israelites were killed. In recent Palestinian attacks.

The IDF began its new mission hours after President Trump rescinded Biden-era executive orders that allowed the U.S. to impose sanctions on those who disrupt the peace in the occupied West Bank, specifically targeting Israeli settlers.

The Biden administration used the executive order to impose some sanctions on extremist settlers accused of violence against Palestinians living in the West Bank.

Israeli settlements and small outposts around the West Bank are illegal under international law. United Nations High Court, International Court of Justice, Purchased Last summer, Israel called for an end to settlement activity and what it calls “illegal” work – a decision that is not legally binding and has been condemned by the Israeli government.

Settlers have hailed the incoming Trump administration, believing it will take a more lenient approach to illegal settlements in the Palestinian territories.

In his first term in office, Mr. Trump has taken unprecedented steps to support Israel’s territorial claims, including Recognizing Jerusalem as the capital And moved the US embassy there and recognized Israel Joining the Golan Heights.

After Mr. Trump’s re-election In the year In November, Israel’s far-right finance minister suggested the country would seek to join the occupied West Bank by 2025.

Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a member of Israel’s far-right Religious Zionist Party, said at the time that he believed Israel could promote the annexation of the West Bank with the second Trump administration.

“I am confident that we will be able to work closely with President-elect Trump and all members of the incoming administration, to promote the common values ​​and interests of the two countries, to strengthen the strength and security of the State of Israel. To expand the circle of peace and stability in the East,

Israel’s long-standing U.S.-backed policy of establishing a Palestinian state, the settlements seen as an obstacle to a two-state solution, has relinquished control of the land to become part of the Palestinian state as Israeli Jews grow in the occupied territories.