The Israeli Defense Minister Joab Gallant said today that “all force” needs to be used against armed Palestinian groups in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli army is waging a major operation that has already claimed dozens of lives in a week.

“In the face of the resurgence of terrorism, we are eliminating terrorist organizations throughout Judea and Samaria” (the biblical name for the West Bank used by the Israelis), Gallant told military officials.

“Every terrorist must be killed and, if surrendered, must be arrested, there is no other option, all force must be used,” he added, according to a Defense Ministry statement.

Gallant also explained that he had given the go-ahead for airstrikes “where necessary to avoid putting soldiers at risk”.

THE Israeli army continues today his big operation, which he launched a week ago in the northern part of the West Bank. The raids took place at the same time in various locations, of which Jenin, Toumbas and Tulkarem.

At least 30 Palestinians have been killed there and 140 wounded since the start of the operation, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Nineteen people were killed in Jenin governorate, seven in Tulkarem and four in Toumbas, according to the same source.

Today, military operations have focused on Jenin and its environs, which are considered strongholds of Palestinian armed groups fighting against Israel, which holds the West Bank since 1967.

His journalist French Agency on the spot he found that the streets of many districts of the city were empty, the inhabitants remained shut up in their houses.

Israeli army armored vehicles drove through the arteries, whose roads were heavily damaged, mostly by bulldozers.

“We mow the grass but the time will come when we also pull out the roots,” the defense minister added, using an expression in Israeli military circles and security services that propose tactical operations to weaken armed organizations or prevent their strengthening.

Israeli incursions are daily in the occupied West Bank, a scene of deadly violence that has intensified since the Gaza war began in October, but rarely on such a large scale.

Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip between the Israeli army and the Palestinian Hamas, violence between the Palestinians on the one hand, and the Israeli army and settlers on the other, has intensified in the West Bank.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 661 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7.

At least 23 Israelis, including soldiers and police, were killed in Palestinian attacks during the same period, according to Israeli officials.