ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Israeli forces announced a new military operation this morning, this time in the occupied West Bank. It started with an airstrike that killed at least nine Palestinians and wounded dozens more, according to Palestinian health officials. That's as the ceasefire in Gaza is holding on its third day. To talk more about all this, we're joined by NPR's Kat Lonsdorf, who was just in the West Bank. Hi, Kat.
KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Hey, Ari.
SHAPIRO: Tell us more about this new military operation. What's going on?
LONSDORF: Yeah, it's in Jenin, which is a city and a refugee camp in the northern area of the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office put out a statement about it, calling it a, quote, "significant military operation to combat terrorism." Jenin has long been a militant stronghold. There have been numerous Israeli military raids there over the past 15 months while the war in Gaza has been going on. Netanyahu said the goal of this operation was to, quote, "strengthen security" in the West Bank to protect Israel. They're calling it Operation Iron Wall.
SHAPIRO: Tell us about the timing. This is coming just days after a ceasefire was implemented in Gaza.
LONSDORF: Yeah, this isn't the first military operation in Jenin, but the timing is notable. This comes at a time when Netanyahu is under a lot of pressure, particularly from the far-right members of his government, to show that he's taking their concerns about the security of Israel seriously. Many of them, particularly his finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, are very against the ceasefire deal with Hamas. Another far-right member of Netanyahu's government just resigned over this. Smotrich has been very vocal about his goal of Israel annexing the West Bank eventually, and some analysts see an operation like this as a way of appeasing him for the ceasefire deal that he's so against.
Meanwhile, Palestinians in the West Bank are worried that the Israeli military will now shift its focus over there with a ceasefire in Gaza. I was in Jenin last fall after the last major Israeli military operation there, and even then people there told me that they felt like Jenin was becoming Gaza. The level of destruction by the Israeli military was just so great.
SHAPIRO: And in Gaza on the third day of this ceasefire, what is the state of things?
LONSDORF: Yeah, it's holding, like you said. The ceasefire has allowed for a lot of very much-needed humanitarian aid to enter. The UN says yesterday, 915 trucks got in. There were more than 600 the day before. And just to put that in perspective, that's more aid in two days than got in in some entire months this fall. It's making up for severe deficits. There's still a lot of work to do. In terms of how people there are feeling, I asked our producer in Gaza, Anas Baba, that earlier today, and he told me that people there are still hesitant. But it does feel different. Here's part of a voice note he sent to me.
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ANAS BABA, BYLINE: There is no drones in the skies. The atmosphere is quiet. People can walk in the streets even after the nightfall, which is something newish for us - all of us. For the aid, we do hear that there is aid enters into Gaza, but we cannot see it yet on the markets. We cannot solve the problems - all of the problems - in three days, but at least there is some relief.
LONSDORF: You know, he told me, with all of the destruction and devastation, there's still a long, long road ahead.
SHAPIRO: And in Israel, the military's top general announced he was resigning today. What reason did he give?
LONSDORF: That's Herzi Halevi. He's the most senior military officer to resign since the October 7 attacks in 2023. Those were the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage into Gaza. It also started this recent war in Gaza. Around 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in that war with Israel, according to health officials.
In his announcement, Halevi said that he was responsible for the military's failure on October 7 and that it accompanies him every day of his life. He said he was relinquishing his duties effective early March. Meanwhile, opposition leaders have been calling on Netanyahu to accept responsibility for October 7, too, and step down as well. That is unlikely to happen.
SHAPIRO: NPR's Kat Lonsdorf. Thank you.
LONSDORF: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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