Live: Israeli forces detonate 20 homes in Jenin

Herzl Halevi, Israel's military chief, has resigned, citing failures in relation to Hamas' surprise attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023. His resignation will take effect on 6 March. 

"The [Israeli military] under my command failed in its mission to protect Israel's citizens," Halevi wrote in his resignation letter to Defence Minister Israel Katz.

"The responsibility for this terrible failure stays with me every day, every hour, and will remain with me for the rest of my life."

The death toll from Israel's major offensive in Jenin has risen to seven, with at least 35 others wounded, the Palestinian health ministry announced. 

Reporters on ground told Middle East Eye that Israeli forces are besieging both al-Amal Hospital and Jenin Governmental Hospital.

"The situation is extremely dire, and it seems that this will be the fiercest escalation we've seen so far," a reporter said. 

Asaad Salim, a resident of Jenin, told MEE that the Israeli assault began with special forces infiltrating the Jabriyat neighbourhood, located east of the city.

Shortly after, Israeli warplanes bombed a vehicle outside Jenin's refugee camp, killing the driver. The warplanes then began firing heavy guns at various areas within both the city and the camp.

Armed clashes also erupted between Palestinian resistance fighters and the Israeli army.

Herzi Halevi, the head of Israel's military, will resign his post in March, Israeli media outlets have reported. 

The Israeli military bombed and stormed Jenin on Tuesday as it launched a major assault on the northern occupied West Bank city, days after a ceasefire in Gaza took hold. 

The attacks killed at least six Palestinians and wounded 35 others, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

The bombing accompanied a large-scale ground assault by Israeli forces, which is expected to last several days, a military source told the Times of Israel. 

Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces - who have been besieging and attacking Jenin since early December - withdrew from the city shortly before the Israeli offensive began. 

Asaad Salim, a resident of Jenin, told Middle East Eye that the Israeli assault began with special forces infiltrating the Jabriyat neighbourhood, located east of the city.

Read more: Israel launches major offensive in Jenin days after Gaza ceasefire 

Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said the military's ongoing raid in Jenin will "change the security situation" in the occupied West Bank.

The military raid, which has already killed six Palestinians, "will be an intense and ongoing operation," Smotrich said in a post on X.

He said it will target "terror elements and their enablers" to protect Israeli "settlers" and "settlements", which he described as a "security buffer" for Israel.

The death toll from the ongoing Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank’s Jenin has risen to four, Al Jazeera reported, citing the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The number of injured also rose to 35, the ministry said.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he “strongly condemns any attack and violence against Palestinians” and regrets the shooting of two Israeli men by a police officer during a settler attack in the West Bank on Monday, The Times of Israel reported.

“Law enforcement authorities must enforce the law and arrest and prosecute anyone who violates the law. There should be a criminal procedure and not administrative orders, and settlers should be treated the same as [people involved in] any other incident anywhere in the State of Israel,” he said.

He called on settler leaders to “condemn any violence of this kind.”

Qatar is confident that the deal it helped mediate for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas addressed all the major issues at stake in the war, the foreign ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

"We are confident in the deal when it comes to the language of the deal, when it comes to the fact that we hashed out all the major issues on the table," Majed al-Ansari told a press conference, adding that Qatar believed both parties would implement the deal.

"Any breach from either side or a political decision... could obviously lead the deal to collapse," the spokesman said.

The Israeli army has announced the start of a military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, with initial reports saying two people have been killed.

The Times of Israel newspaper, citing a military source, said the Israeli operation, codenamed “The Iron Wall”, is expected to go on for at least several days, mobilising extensive troops, special forces and intelligence personnel.

Citing local sources, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said that Israeli soldiers stormed the city from the Jalameh military checkpoint after special Israeli forces infiltrated al-Jabariyat neighbourhood.

The raid coincided with Israeli drones bombing an empty vehicle near al-Zahraa School in the vicinity of Jenin refugee camp, without any injuries being reported, while Apache helicopters fired into the skies of the camp, Wafa reported.

The Israeli military said it was conducting a “counterterrorism” operation, without providing details.

Newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump has suggested the ceasefire in Gaza is unlikely to hold, as he lifts a range of sanctions his predecessor imposed on Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.

Asked by a journalist about the ceasefire deal that came into effect over the weekend, Trump said he was "not confident" about its long-term prospects.

"That's not our war; it's their war. But I'm not confident," Trump said.

"I looked at a picture of Gaza. Gaza is like a massive demolition site."

He added that the enclave, which has been reduced to rubble by 15 months of Israeli bombardment, was a "phenomenal location on the sea" that could be rebuilt.

Read more: Trump says 'not confident' in Gaza ceasefire as he removes settler sanctions

Israeli forces have arrested at least 20 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since yesterday evening until this morning, according to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS).

A journalist from Hebron, former detainees and a woman from Ramallah were among those arrested across the governorates of Hebron, Qalqilya, Ramallah and Nablus, the joint statement said.

A Hamas official said on Tuesday that four Israeli women captives will be freed in return for Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, in the second such release under the ceasefire deal, AFP reported.

Taher al-Nunu said the group would release "four Israeli female detainees in exchange" for a second group of Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli military fire injured two people in Gaza despite the ceasefire, Wafa news agency reported.

Off the coast of Gaza City, a Palestinian fisherman was hurt by Israeli gunfire, the agency said. A drone injured another civilian near Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood.

Israeli forces also shot dead three Palestinians, including two children, in Rafah, on Monday, Wafa reported. 

The Palestinian Authority said on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump's lifting of sanctions on Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank would incite violence against Palestinians.

"Lifting sanctions on extremist settlers encourages them to commit more crimes against our people", the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, pointing to recent attacks by Israeli settlers throughout the West Bank that left 21 injured.

Turkey could restart trade with Israel "if peace is permanent", Nail Olpak, head of the Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Board (Deik), said on Tuesday.

Turkey severed trade with Israel last year over its war on Gaza. This week Israel and Hamas began carrying out a complex ceasefire deal.