Live: Strike announced in Israel amid mounting anger at Netanyahu

Al Jazeera reports that Israeli forces have imposed a curfew on the eastern Jenin neighbourhood and prevented Palestinians from leaving their homes.

The Israeli army is reportedly continuing its raids and is storming homes in the area.

The armed wing of Hamas, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said a sniper from the group shot two Israeli soldiers south of Gaza City on Wednesday.

Israeli news pages on Telegram said at least one Israeli soldier was killed in Gaza on Wednesday and another seriously wounded, though there has been no official confirmation from the military. 

One question that might puzzle future historians who scrutinise the current juncture is why the democracies of the West did nothing to stop Israel from committing genocide in Gaza.

They might find their inaction perplexing as the language of human rights has been a bedrock for the US and its allies and an essential feature of western hegemony. It has long been a tool of soft power and justifies the use of military force.

Why, then, have they risked this valuable stature by supporting Israel's war crimes in Gaza?

The US and its European allies, such as Germany, the UK and the Netherlands, have been integral to Israel's onslaught. They have transported weapons on a daily basis, attempted to protect Israeli leaders from prosecution, and done nothing to stop murderous attacks on Palestinian civilians.

Generally, the explanation for this complicity belongs to two different camps. One argues that the Israel lobby has captured western decision-making to ensure that Israel enjoys impunity and support. The other argues that the US deems Israel a vital part of its imperial strategy in an oil-rich region, thus viewing its survival as essential to its interests.      

But there is another explanation that has less to do with Israel and more to do with the way in which the West sees itself and its role in the world. 

Read more: How Israeli genocide in Gaza exposed the West's liberal delusion by Christian Henderson

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas interrupted his visit to Saudi Arabia to return to the occupied West Bank on Wednesday after Israel launched military operations in the Palestinian territory, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said.

"Abbas cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia and returned to his homeland on Wednesday to follow up on the latest developments in light of the Israeli aggression on the northern West Bank," Wafa said.

Reporting by AFP

The top US development agency warned President Joe Biden against building the floating pier for aid in Gaza, warning that it would undermine attempts to persuade Israel to allow land entry.

An inspector general report by USAid released on Tuesday said the agency warned that the $230m military-run project - known as the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore System (JLOTS) - would be difficult to implement and that land transport would be "more efficient".

"Multiple USAid staff expressed concerns that the focus on using JLOTS would detract from the agency’s advocacy for opening land crossings, which were seen as more efficient and proven methods of transporting aid into Gaza," said the report.

"However, once the president issued the directive, the agency’s focus was to use JLOTS as effectively as possible."

Read more: USAid warned Joe Biden against building floating Gaza pier 

Israeli forces raided an ambulance station in the al-Far'a refugee camp near Tubas and briefly held paramedics outside, an ambulance officer from the city told Middle East Eye.  

Adnan Ghoneimi said Israeli soldiers forced medical teams to leave the station and lined them up against a wall as they searched the facility. 

Paramedics in the city had been blocked from reaching the camp since the raid began at midnight, he added. 

'One of the martyrs was without a skull, shoulders or brain as if he had melted during the bombing'

- Adnan Ghoneimi, ambulance officer

Ghoneimi confirmed that an Israeli drone bombed the camp at dawn, killing four people. 

Ambulance crews managed to reach the area hours later and were shocked by the strike's impact.  

“One of the martyrs was without a skull, shoulders or brain as if he had melted during the bombing," Ghoneimi told MEE. 

 "This is the most violent aerial bombardment on the city." 

Due to the closure of roads leading to the camp, paramedics have been forced to take a bumpy road to transport the dead and wounded. 

Some residents were forced to cut trees near their homes to allow ambulances to drive through the narrow alleyways.  

Whenever medical teams tried to reach the entrances to the camp, they were threatened with being shot by soldiers, Ghoneimi said. 

“If we receive any call regarding emergency cases inside the camp, the paramedics try to deal with them on the field, and if they require transportation to the hospital, the ambulance tries to reach it via rugged dirt roads that take longer to pass.” 

Reporting by Fayha Shalash in Ramallah 

Israeli forces are holding a group of paramedics in the al-Far'a refugee camp near Tubas amid an ongoing raid. 

Footage captured by residents showed Israeli forces lining up the paramedics against a wall in the camp, preventing them from carrying out their work. 

تغطية صحفية: قوات الاحتلال تحتجز عدداً من طواقم الهلال الأحمر الفلسطيني خلال العدوان المستمر على مخيم الفارعة جنوب طوباس. pic.twitter.com/cYU2j1820b

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 28, 2024

The Jenin Governmental Hospital, also known as the Khalil Suleiman Hospital, remains under Israeli siege almost 12 hours after the West Bank city was raided, the hospital's director told Middle East Eye. 

Dr Wissam Abu Bakr said Israeli military vehicles surround the hospital, preventing people from entering and leaving freely. 

“Ambulances that transported several casualties from the city were subjected to careful inspection as they attempted to enter the hospital, while soldiers searched the identity cards of some of those trapped in the hospital before allowing them to leave it after several hours,” Abu Bakr said.

Sniper units are also deployed in buildings adjacent to and overlooking the hospital, he added, restricting the movement of residents. 

Reporting by Fayha Shalash in Ramallah 

Israeli, American, Egyptian and Qatari negotiators were meeting in Doha on Wednesday for "technical/working level" talks on a ceasefire in Gaza, a source with knowledge of the meeting told Reuters without giving further details.

Reporting by Reuters

Israeli forces are blocking roads to Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin while besieging the Khalil Suleiman Hospital in the city, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The ministry also issued an appeal to all medical teams in the city to head to the nearest health centres to support doctors.

Hamas accused Israel of expanding its "brutal war of extermination" from the Gaza Strip to cover the cities, towns and camps of the occupied West Bank with the latest major assault. 

The Palestinian movement said the escalation was the "result of the suspicious international silence" in the face of the "flagrant violations of all international laws and its deliberate targeting of defenceless civilians with the intent of extermination and displacement" by Israel. 

It said the attack on the West Bank was an attempt to implement the extremist plans of the Israeli government, expressed by its fascist ministers, against Palestinians in the occupied territory. 

"The criminal enemy, through its successive fascist governments, has tried for decades to suppress the resistance of our people in the West Bank by all means, without succeeding," Hamas said in a statement.

"Its current criminal military campaign will inevitably be broken by the steadfastness and determination of our people and the determination of our brave youth and resistance fighters."

Khaled Sobh, an eyewitness from Tubas, one of the three northern West Bank cities targeted in the major Israeli offensive, provided an update from the ground.

He told Middle East Eye that al-Far'a refugee camp is still under a tight military siege with troops intensely raiding homes. 

“The situation in the camp is catastrophic, and the incursion is the largest it has ever been. 

"Ambulances are prohibited from moving. The wounded were smuggled to hospitals because of all these closures."

The raids on homes are carried out brutally, Sobh added, with residents being used by troops as human shields.

He said at least one family was used as a cover for soldiers when they moved to the rooftop of their home to set up there.

Reporting by Fayha Shalash from Ramallah

Israeli forces have killed at least 58 Palestinians and wounded 131 others in the past 24 hours, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

This brings the death toll since 7 October to 40,534, with more than 93,778 wounded and an estimated 10,000 missing, likely dead and buried under rubble.

Health officials report that over 50 percent of the victims are children and women.

Israeli troops said they intend to raid the Jenin government hospital, the city's governor told Anadolu Agency. 

The message was delivered to the Palestinian liaison, the governor added. 

Almost all hospitals in Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas have been under siege since the major offensive began overnight, with residents and local health officials warning of imminent Israeli raids. 

Shatha Sabagh, a Jenin camp resident, said the raid is the largest she has seen in years. 

“The number of military vehicles storming Jenin is very large," she told Middle East Eye.

"The three main hospitals are besieged and all the streets leading to the city are closed with dirt barriers.

"We have not witnessed an incursion this extensive for a long time, and it seems that it will continue for several days". 

Soldiers have taken position in several buildings in the city and deployed snipers on top floors, shooting at anyone that moves in front of them, she added.

Meanwhile, sounds of armed clashes and the detonation of explosive devices has not subsided since the start of the raid. 

The city is paralysed, with workers and students staying indoors, Sabagh said.  

Residents have also not been able to bury those killed by Israeli forces just outside the city amid a tight siege imposed by the military. 

Israeli occupation forces bulldoze roads in Jenin refugee camp. pic.twitter.com/yOITlfdH09

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) August 28, 2024

Reporting by Fayha Shalash in Ramallah