TEHRAN- While global attention has been directed toward Israel’s fatal strikes in Lebanon, the regime’s atrocious crimes in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank go unchecked.

At least 18 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, that’s according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. 

The number of fatalities is anticipated to increase because the location struck by an Israeli fighter jet was a densely populated area which also caused widespread destruction. 

The Palestinian Authority described the attack as “a massacre” and called on the international community to intervene to stop Israel’s assaults.

A spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas also denounced the strike as a “heinous crime” against civilians.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh added that the deadly assault was “part of a broader pattern of genocide against the Palestinian people in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip”.

The Israeli army claimed it had targeted the Hamas infrastructure in Tulkarem without offering any supporting evidence.

Israel’s military operations have intensified in the West Bank since the regime launched war on Gaza on October 7 last year. 

According to a tally from the United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA), nearly 700 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war. 

The death toll from Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza also continues to rise. Nearly a year into the war, the death toll has topped 41,800, including some 17,000 children.  Approximately 97,000 others have also been injured. 

The statistics are derived from information released by health authorities in Gaza. However, the actual death toll is anticipated to be greater, as thousands of bodies are thought to be trapped beneath the debris of collapsed buildings.

Israel launched the Gaza war with the purported aim of achieving “total victory” over Hamas and “destroying” the resistance group. 

Israel has not yet succeeded in reaching its objective. Israeli war minister Yoav Gallat has described Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “total victory” dream over Hamas as gibberish. 

To divert attention from its failures in the Gaza war, Israel began a massive bombing campaign in Lebanon on September 23 that was followed by a ground invasion of the country on Tuesday. 

The Lebanese Health Ministry said more than 2,000 people have been killed since the regime began its airstrikes two weeks ago.  Some 1.2 million people have also been displaced. 

Israel also assassinated Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in airstrikes on a Beirut suburb on September 27. Israel has also killed some of the senior commanders of the Lebanese resistance movement. 

Israel is under the illusion that it can eliminate Hezbollah by decapitating the movement. Israel has pursued the same failed approach toward Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

The Israeli assassinations of prominent leaders within resistance movements have proven counterproductive. These actions have not only failed to weaken these groups but have also strengthened their determination to put up stiff resistance against the regime’s aggression.