Israel’s largest military assault in two decades in the occupied West Bank has entered its third day with the army, accompanied by bulldozers, leaving a trail of destruction after firing live ammunition and tear gas.
A top United Nations aid official meanwhile questioned "what has become of our basic humanity", as the war raged on in Gaza and humanitarian operations struggle to respond.
Israeli troops killed a local commander of the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad movement in the West Bank and four other militants on Thursday in a gunbattle during one of the largest assaults in the Israeli-occupied territory for months.
Three towns in the north of the occupied territory were targeted in a vast operation in which Israel announced it had eliminated nine 'terrorists.'