Jordan condemns Israeli attack on Tulkarm refugee camp

AMMAN — Jordan on Friday condemned the Israeli occupation forces' attack on the Tulkarm refugee camp, which resulted in numerous casualties, deeming the attack a flagrant violation of international law and humanitarian law.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Sufian Qudah held Israel, as the occupying power, fully responsible for the aggression, according to a ministry statement. 

Qudah said that the ongoing attacks and escalating Israeli military actions against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, along with ongoing operations in Gaza and Lebanon, represent a deliberate attempt to escalate regional conflict and threaten regional security and stability.

The spokesperson also criticised the Israeli government's persistent defiance in obstructing international peace efforts and its refusal to de-escalate or reach a ceasefire. 

Qudah also called on the international community, particularly the UN Security Council, to take immediate and decisive action to stop the aggression, protect Palestinian civilians, and hold Israel accountable for its ongoing violations of international law.

At least 16 people were killed in the West Bank refugee camp of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said on Thursday, following an Israeli air strike in the area, according to AFP.

The Israeli army confirmed the strike on the town in the northern West Bank, describing it as a joint operation carried out by the Shin Bet internal security service and the air force, according to a brief statement by the military. 

Reached by telephone, camp official Faisal Salama told AFP that the attack had been carried out by an F-16 fighter.

A resident from the area said the Israeli plane had "hit a cafeteria in a three-story building." 

Violence in the West Bank has surged alongside the war in Gaza which began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.

Since the attack, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 699 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and its forces regularly make incursions into Palestinian communities, but the current raids as well as comments by Israeli officials mark an escalation, residents say.