Written by James McKenzie and Ali Sawafta

JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH (Reuters) – Israeli security forces backed by helicopters raided the restive West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday, killing at least nine Palestinians in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a “major and wide-ranging military operation.”

Netanyahu announced that this measure, which began a day after US President Donald Trump announced the lifting of sanctions on extremist Israeli settlers who attacked Palestinian villages, is a new attack against Iranian-backed militants.

Netanyahu said: “We are moving systematically and decisively against the Iranian axis wherever it extends its arms – in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Judea and Samaria.” Judea and Samaria are terms used by Israel to refer to the occupied West Bank.

The move to Jenin, where the Israeli army has carried out several large-scale raids and incursions in recent years, comes just two days after the start of the Gaza ceasefire.

The army said that soldiers, police and intelligence services began an anti-terrorism operation in Jenin. This follows a weeks-long operation carried out by Palestinian security forces in the West Bank to regain control of the neighboring refugee camp, a major hub for armed militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, both of which receive support from Iran.

Hamas, which is based in Gaza, has in recent years expanded its reach in the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority, dominated by the rival Fatah movement, exercises limited rule. On Tuesday, Hamas called on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to escalate the fight against Israel.

As the operation began, Palestinian security forces withdrew from the refugee camp, and the sound of heavy gunfire was heard in mobile phone footage circulated on social media.

Palestinian health services said that at least nine Palestinians were killed and 35 others were injured in the Israeli raid, which continued into the night. A week earlier, an Israeli air strike on the Jenin refugee camp killed at least three Palestinians and injured dozens.

Since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, hundreds of Palestinians and dozens of Israelis have been killed in the West Bank and Israel, and thousands of Palestinians have been arrested in regular Israeli raids.

Protecting settlers

Hardline pro-settlement Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is responsible for large parts of Israeli policy in the West Bank, said the operation was the beginning of a “strong and sustained campaign” against armed groups “to protect the settlements and settlers.”

Earlier, Smotrich welcomed Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on settlers accused of committing acts of violence against Palestinians. He said that he looked forward to cooperating with the new American administration in expanding settlements, which most countries consider a violation of international law.

In the days leading up to the Israeli military operation in Jenin, Palestinians in the West Bank said multiple roadblocks were placed across the area, where violence has renewed since the beginning of the war in Gaza.

Late Monday, gangs of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians, smashing cars and burning property, around the village of Al-Funduq near Qalqilya, the area where three Israelis were killed in a shooting earlier this month.

“There was a carpentry shop here where I worked for eight years,” Abdul Malik Faraj Allah said. He added that more than 200 settlers participated in the attack. “They burned it, they burned the buildings and cars of our neighbors there. No one could do anything.”

The army said it had opened an investigation into the incident, which it said involved dozens of Israeli civilians, some of whom were masked.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the settlers’ attack at the hotel as well as the sudden appearance of several new checkpoints and roadblocks, which it said were aimed at “dismembering the West Bank.”

The office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement, “We call on the new American administration to intervene to stop these crimes and Israeli policies that will not bring peace and security to anyone.”

About 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories occupied by Israel in 1967. Most countries consider Israeli settlements on lands seized in the war illegal. Israel rejects this, citing historical and biblical ties to the land.