The Israeli military has announced that it has begun a large military offensive against Nablus, specifically, the Balata refugee camp.

At least 14 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli army gunfire and dozens suffocated from tear gas during a raid since Wednesday morning on the Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced in a statement that medical teams at the Rafidia Government Hospital in Nablus have been treating “14 gunshot injuries from the occupation, including two in critical condition and seven in moderate condition.”

Before the ministry’s statement, the Palestine Red Crescent Society announced that its teams had transferred six people with gunshot wounds to the hospital and provided field treatment to 50 cases of suffocation and five cases of beating.

Among the gunshot victims were four children aged between 15 and 16, with two suffering from live ammunition wounds to the lower back and foot and two others injured by rubber bullets in the hand and foot, the statement said.

Earlier, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said its crews transported a 14-year-old boy from the camp to a hospital after he was struck in the face by a tear gas canister.

At dawn, a large Israeli force with soldiers and armored vehicles stormed the camp, searching homes and converting some into military outposts, witnesses told reporters.

They added that soldiers forced families to flee their homes and leave the camp under duress.

The Israeli army has continued a deadly offensive in the northern West Bank since January, killing scores of Palestinians and displacing thousands.

Tensions have been high in the West Bank, where at least 947 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured since October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.​​​​​​​

The International Court of Justice declared last July that Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land was illegal and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.​​​​​​​