Israel-Gaza updates: Protest erupts in Tel Aviv over cease-fire, hostage deal

Ten people have been killed since the start of the Israel Defense Forces' operation in the West Bank overnight, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said Wednesday.

The operation is targeting Jenin, Tulkarm and Nablus in the West Bank, IDF spokesman Nadav Shoshani said during a Zoom briefing with reporters Wednesday.

Shoshani implied the operation could go on for a few days, saying it "won't end tomorrow," during the IDF briefing.

The IDF did not say how many troops are involved in the operation, but Shoshani called it a "large" operation. Israeli security forces called it a "counterterrorism operation," in a release Wednesday.

The IDF is surrounding the Ibn Sinai hospital in Jenin "to prevent terrorists from taking shelter there," Shoshani said, but said the IDF has no plans to "enter, capture or seize" the hospital.

There are no plans to evacuate civilians from the areas where the IDF is operating, Shoshani said.

One of the targets of the operation is the cell that planned a failed suicide bombing attempt in Tel Aviv earlier this month, but the attack did not prompt the large operation, Shoshani added.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller, Nasser Atta and Guy Davies

The U.S. State Department announced new sanctions targeting an Israeli nongovernmental organization and an individual, Yitzhak Levi Filant, as part of its ongoing efforts to "address the extreme levels of instability and violence against civilians in the West Bank."

The organization, Hashomer Yosh, is providing support to an outpost in the West Bank and individuals -- who are already designated by the U.S. government -- and allegedly prevented Palestinian residents that were forced to leave their homes from returning, according to the State Department.

Filant, identified as the civilian security coordinator of a settlement in the West Bank, is accused of engaging "in malign activities outside the scope of his authority," including an incident in February where he purportedly "led a group of armed settlers to set up roadblocks and conduct patrols to pursue and attack Palestinians in their lands and forcefully expel them from their lands," the State Department said in a statement.

"Extremist settler violence in the West Bank causes intense human suffering, harms Israel’s security, and undermines the prospect for peace and stability in the region. It is critical that the Government of Israel hold accountable any individuals and entities responsible for violence against civilians in the West Bank," the State Department said.

-ABC News' Shannon K. Kingston

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has framed the unfolding West Bank operation as another front in the country’s showdown with Iran, suggesting Israel should "deal with the threat just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza."

"Iran is working to establish an eastern terrorist front against Israel in the West Bank, according to the Gaza and Lebanon model, by financing and arming terrorists and smuggling advanced weapons from Jordan," Katz wrote in a post on X.

Katz said Israel should take "whatever steps are required," including "the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents."

"This is a war for everything and we must win it," he added.

-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti

The IDF overnight widened a major military operation in the northern part of the West Bank, attacking from the air and from the ground using tanks and bulldozers, ABC News has learned.

The targets of the raid are Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas. The IDF has described the ongoing operation as an “extensive operation to counter terrorism” and to “thwart Islamic-Iranian terrorist infrastructures.”

Reports indicate that nine Palestinians have so far been killed, though that number could rise. The IDF has reportedly ordered Palestinians to evacuate from the three targets locations, with troops also entering a hospital in the area.

The raid is believed to be the first operation by the IDF targeting several cities at once since the Second Intifada, which ran from 2000 to 2005.

-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti