Major Israeli military operation kills at least eight in West Bank
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00:00 now joined on the line by correspondent Iris Maclair in Jerusalem. Iris, what are Israeli
00:07 officials saying about the situation then? Israeli officials confirmed that they have begun
00:14 an operation. They're calling it a limited counter-terrorism operation with a thousand
00:19 soldiers, that includes in the air and ground troops who have encircled the Janine refugee
00:26 camp and are operating there. Apparently, according to Israeli military sources,
00:30 they go house to house based on information that they have from their security services.
00:35 So what we have seen, what they say they're aiming for is what they call terrorist infrastructure,
00:43 which includes weapons and rockets, because last week we saw militants from Janine trialing on the
00:50 Gaza model, firing rockets into Israel from their area. We have also seen Palestinian sources
00:56 uploading footage of Israeli bulldozers tearing up the roads. I think that is because they want
01:02 to make sure there are no roadside bombs there. They got into a lot of trouble about a week ago
01:06 in one of their incursions because of that. So a limited counter-terrorism operation with
01:11 Israel saying it has no plans to take over, to reconquer Janine and no plans to harm the
01:18 Palestinian Authority. Meanwhile, what has Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president,
01:25 what's he been saying? And other key Palestinian figures, because of course he's not the only one.
01:31 That's right. So he's the president of the Palestinian Authority, which Israel says it
01:37 doesn't want to harm, but he calls this another war crime against our people in a statement that
01:43 was issued by his office and said there'll be no security for Israel as long as the Palestinians
01:48 have no security either. However, he's a weakened figure and I think it is most relevant what the
01:53 militant groups are saying. The militant groups in Janine say they won't lay down their weapons,
01:58 they'll pay any price. From Hamas in Gaza, condemnation of this operation, of course,
02:04 but we have also heard within the last hour that they've made it known to Israeli sources
02:09 that if this operation doesn't end soon, then they may also have to enter the fray.
02:13 That would be fighting on two fronts and I think that's important for Israel and I think that's
02:18 why it says it's a limited operation. There has also been condemnation from Jordan, the other
02:24 neighbouring country with a large Palestinian population. Okay, well, thanks for that.
02:30 Iris MacLeod speaking to us from Jerusalem.