Ramallah, Aug 31 (IANS): The UN agency for Palestine refugees announced that it has suspended its services in several refugee camps in the northern West Bank due to an ongoing Israeli military operation.
"We've had to suspend UNRWA services to the communities in several camps," Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said on social media platform X on Friday.
Israeli security forces' operation in the northern West Bank continues impacting tens of thousands of people in refugee camps, including through destruction of public and private infrastructure, reports Xinhua news agency, quoting Lazzarini.
More than 150 Palestinian children were killed in the West Bank since the Hamas-Israel conflict started on October 7, 2023, according to UN statistics, he said, noting that, "It is time to reach a political solution to this decades' long conflict to end the suffering of civilians wherever they are."
On Wednesday, the Israeli army launched a large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank, targeting Jenin, Tulkarm, and Tubas to arrest individuals suspected of attacking Israel.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said that the Palestinian death toll amid the ongoing Israeli military operation in the region rose to 20 on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that the IDF, Israeli Security Agency, and Israel Border Police forces have been conducting a "precise, targeted regional operation" across three areas in the northern West Bank.
The forces were operating against "terrorist cells" of the Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) organisations in the areas, as well as "ongoing attempts by the enemy to carry out attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers," it said.
Cities, refugee camps, and villages in the West Bank have experienced rising tensions since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, with more than 650 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire across the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.