JENIN, Occupied Wes Bank (Dispatches) – The occupying regime of Israel pressed on with a large-scale military onslaught in the occupied West Bank for a fourth day on Saturday, as fierce fighting raged in the nearly 11-month Gaza war.
As clashes and explosions persisted in the northern city of Jenin, two Palestinians were martyred while carrying out a retaliatory operation overnight in the south of the West Bank.
Palestinian resistance group Hamas hailed a “heroic operation” at what it called a “sensitive time” during the Israeli invasion of the north.
The operations, it said, send a clear message that the resistance front will remain firm, strong and resilient as long as Israel continues its brutalities and acts of aggression against the Palestinian nation and occupied territories.
“These operations remind the Zionist regime of the fact that it cannot partition any part of our homeland, and that our people and heroic resistance fighters will surprise Israel anywhere and anytime,” the Hamas statement read.
The coordinated car bomb explosions, it said, represent a new blow to the Israeli security apparatus, and highlights that illegal settlers cannot enjoy security on occupied Palestinian lands and will continue to receive more painful strikes from Palestinian resistance fighters.
Hamas ally Islamic Jihad, which has a strong presence in the northern West Bank, similarly said it “congratulates” those behind the “coordinated attack”.
The Zionist military described a vehicle explosion at a petrol station in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc as “an attempted car bombing”.
An army officer “was moderately injured, and a reservist officer responsible for the security in a nearby community sustained minor injuries,” it said in a statement.
In the second incident, the head of security in the Israeli settlement of Karmei Zur engaged in a car chase with a Palestinian who had infiltrated the settlement compound, leading to a collision, the statement said.
At least 21 Palestinians have been martyred by Israeli forces since Wednesday in a series of raids in several cities in the northern West Bank. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said that among the dead were several children and a disabled person. 
Since Friday, troops have concentrated their aggression on the city of Jenin and its refugee camps.
On Saturday morning, clashes continued in Jenin, where the streets were mostly empty save for armored vehicles, including one that blocked access to the government hospital.
“I think it’s the worst day since 

the start of the raid... We hear from time to time clashes and sometimes there is big bombing,” said the hospital’s director, Wisam Bakr.
Water and electricity were cut off from the hospital during the raid, forcing it to rely on a generator and water tank, he told AFP.
Zionist forces forcibly removed Palestinians from their homes in Jenin on Saturday. Residents said many are trapped in their homes without access to food, water or electricity, as Israeli forces maintain a tight siege on the city. 
Dozens of families have been forced out of their homes in raids conducted by Israeli troops.
“We were cut off from the world, with no communication or internet, and we didn’t know anything about what was happening,” Abdul Rahman Abu Raya, a Jenin resident, told Middle East Eye. 
Abu Raya said troops stormed his home and forced all family members, including 12 children, into two rooms after the raid began on Wednesday. 
The family was denied access to basic needs during this time, he added, including milk, bread and medicine. 
The onslaught, involved simultaneous air and ground attacks on Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas in the northern West Bank. 
Palestinian media reported intense fighting on Saturday between Israeli troops and Palestinians, as Israeli military bulldozers caused widespread destruction to the city’s roads and civilian infrastructure.    
Among the civilian structures damaged by the Israeli attacks was the Khalid Ibn al-Walid Mosque in Abu Raya’s neighborhood. 
Meanwhile, many residents have been arrested from their homes and subjected to field interrogations and harsh treatment.
“We left our homes, but thousands are still suffering there under the strict siege 
The United Nations said on Wednesday that at least 637 Palestinians had been martyred in the territory by Israeli troops or settlers since the Gaza war began.
Nineteen Zionists have been killed in Palestinian operations over the same period, according to Israeli official figures.
The dead among Palestinians included an 82-year-old man, according to Wafa news agency, and two teenagers, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, which said another 55 had been wounded since the launch of the Israeli invasion. 
In Gaza, Israel pushed forward with its brutal onslaught. Gaza’s civil defense agency said its rescuers pulled 29 bodies from the rubble since dawn and transported dozens of wounded to hospitals across the devastated Palestinian territory.
On Friday, a medical source at the southern Nasser Hospital said an Israeli strike martyred three people near the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis.
Israeli shelling in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza killed two people on the same day, the civil defense agency said.
World countries expressed concerns Friday about the Israeli operation in the West Bank, denouncing “an outbreak of violence which is clearly unacceptable”.
The World Health Organization said Israel had agreed to at least three days of “humanitarian pauses” in parts of Gaza, starting Sunday, to facilitate a vaccination drive after the territory recorded its first case of polio in a quarter of a century.
Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the measures were “not a ceasefire”.
Israel’s aggression following the October 7 operation by Hamas has resulted in the martyrdom of at least 40,602 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.
The war has devastated Gaza, repeatedly displaced most of its 2.4 million people and triggered a humanitarian crisis.
“In August, the number of humanitarian missions and movements within Gaza that have been denied access by Israeli authorities has almost doubled, compared with July,” the UN humanitarian office said on Friday.