Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday called for “the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and whatever steps are required,” after the IDF overnight Tuesday launched a large-scale anti-terror operation in Samaria.
“This is a war in every respect and we must win it,” Katz tweeted.
“The IDF is working intensively starting tonight in the Jenin and Tulkarem refugee camps to thwart Islamic-Iranian terrorist infrastructures that have been established there,” he said.
Iran is working “to establish an eastern terrorist front” in Judea and Samaria, said Katz, following its proxy model in Lebanon with Hezbollah and the Gaza Strip with Hamas, by “financing and arming terrorists and smuggling advanced weapons from Jordan.”
He continued: “We must deal with the threat just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.”
Katz clarified his remarks after an attack by outgoing European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
“I oppose the displacement of any population from their homes,” Katz tweeted on Thursday.
“Outgoing EU foreign minister @JosepBorrellF claims that ‘the Israeli Foreign Minister is calling for the displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank.’ This is a blatant lie, just like his previous falsehood regarding my statements about Gaza, from which he was forced to retract,” Katz added.
As of Thursday, the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry has reported at least 17 deaths so far in the IDF operation—eight in Jenin, five in Tulkarm, and four in Tubas, a city northeast of Nablus (Shechem).
The IDF operation was launched following an uptick in terrorist incidents in the region, including the murder of a Jewish guard 10 days ago Wednesday.
Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria have been calling for the army to take action, warning that an Oct. 7-like attack in Israel’s central region is only a matter of time if the problem is allowed to fester.
Israel Gantz, head of both the Binyamin Regional Council and the Yesha Council, commenting on the IDF operation, said on Wednesday: “If we don’t do to Nur Shams what we did to Nuseirat [in Gaza], then God forbid, they’ll do to Bat Hefer [a village in central Israel] what they did to Be’eri [a kibbutz on the Gaza border devastated on Oct. 7].
“The time has come for us to face reality: Next to the beds of our children in Judea and Samaria, in Bat Hefer and Kfar Saba, lives a population that wants to kill Jews.”
