In the days since the cease-fire agreement took effect in the Gaza Strip, Israel has turned its attention to a Palestinian town about 75 miles northeast of the enclave – a town with a long history of resistance and militant activity.

On Wednesday, as some of its troops withdrew from Gaza, the Israeli military said he was in a hurry with the operation in Jenin, a city in the northern part of the West Bank under Israeli occupation. For decades, the city has been a hotbed of militancy and the target of raids by Israeli security forces.

Since the Gaza war began, Hamas has grown in popularity and asserted its presence in the West Bank. Iran — which backs Hamas and other militant groups in the region — is flooded the territory with weapons. And the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank in coordination with Israel, has seen its tenuous influence shrink further.

Now Israel seems to be turning its attention to the West Bank, and Jenin in particular. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel’s latest operation was aimed at “rooting out terrorism” and would be “extensive and significant”.

Here’s what you need to know about Jenin and the latest Israeli operation there.

What’s going on?

On Wednesday, an Israeli army spokeswoman said 10 militants were “hit” during the operation in Jenin, without giving further details. Earlier, Israel said it had killed eight militants since the attack began.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said 10 people had been killed in Jenin and its suburbs since the attack began. And Palestinian officials quoted by Wafa, the official news agency of the Palestinian Authority, said at least four people were injured in the city on Wednesday.

Other cities in the West Bank were also targeted by raids. The Palestinian Authority’s Commission on Prisoners’ Affairs said Israeli forces had arrested at least 25 Palestinians across the West Bank since Tuesday night.

Why is Israel targeting the West Bank?

From October 7, 2023. Attack led by Hamas As for Israel, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is losing support to factions like Hamas that favor armed struggle and actively fight against Israel, according to poll by the Palestine Center for Policy Research and Research.

Simultaneously, deadly Israeli attacks and attacks by Jewish settlers on the Palestinians in the West Bank have escalated. Israeli leaders say the military strikes are aimed at countering terrorism in the area.

Lt. Col. Herzi Halevi, Israel’s outgoing army chief of staff, said in a speech on Tuesday that his forces had killed 794 militants in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war. “In most cases, we foiled the threat in advance before the terrorists could reach Israeli citizens,” he said.

Who arms the militants?

Iran acts a a secret smuggling route through the Middle Eastemploying intelligence operatives, militants and criminal groups to deliver weapons to Palestinians in the West Bank, according to officials from the United States, Israel and Iran. The aim is to incite unrest against Israel by flooding the territory with weapons, Iranian officials said.

The Israeli security forces carried out a major crackdown across the West Banksaying it was part of Israel’s counter-terrorism efforts against Hamas and other armed factions.

What is the Palestinian leadership doing?

The Palestinian Authority is the governing body in some areas of the occupied West Bank. In December, its security forces began crushing militants in and around Jenin, where the authorities lost control. The region is known as a stronghold of militant groups, including Hamas, which call for armed resistance to Israel.

The Palestinian Authority emerged from a peace process between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the 1990s that was supposed to lead to the creation of a Palestinian state, but never did.

In practice, the Israeli army—the occupying power in the territory—has security control over Palestinian cities. The Palestinian Authority handles some local issues, including garbage collection, education, hospitals and schools, and has its own security forces that coordinate with their Israeli counterparts, but have limited powers.

Jenin has long been a symbol of resistance.

city the reputation of a resistor dates back to the 1930s, when Palestinians took up arms against British rule in Palestine during what was known as Arab uprising.

Later, in the midst of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that saw the creation of modern Israel and the flight or expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, Jenin cemented its reputation as a city that never surrendered when Palestinian fighters, aided by Iraqi soldiers, repelled an Israeli attempt to capture it. .

The city is home to one of the original refugee camps set up for Palestinians displaced by that war.

In 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank after a war with neighboring Arab states. Jenin’s resonance today, for both Palestinians and Israelis, stems largely from the second intifada, or uprising, against that Israeli occupation in the early 2000s.

Israelis remember the city as the source of dozens of suicide bombers sent into Israel at the time, and Palestinians remember a 10-day battle in 2002 between militants and Israeli forces that killed 52 Palestinians, up to half of whom may have been civilians, according to United Nations.

Jenin was often the target of attacks by Israeli forces. Both Hamas, which controls Gaza, and the Islamic Jihad militant group have recruited in Jenin. And in recent years, newer militias loosely affiliated with more established groups have appeared among the younger generation respectively frustrated by the Palestinian leadership they consider it corrupt and enabling the Israeli occupation.

Lara Jakes, King Abdulrahim, Isabel Kershner, Erika Solomon Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting.