Middle East: Netanyahu orders West Bank raid, Israel braces for Hamas tensions

*Middle East, PM Netanyahu orders raid against occupied West Bank *Middle East, Israel prepares to escalate tension with Hamas

Transcript

00:00Welcome back to From the South.

00:09We continue with more information on the case in the Middle East.

00:13Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a massive raid against the West Bank,

00:18justifying this genocidal offensive by the earlier blast of three empty buses in Badyam

00:23City near Tel Aviv, capital of Israel.

00:27Israel decided to tighten up the military iron wall operation which occupation forces

00:32had launched since January against the West Bank.

00:35The Prime Minister made such decision following a meeting he held with both the police and

00:41the intelligence machine Bet Agency.

00:43Likewise, human rights organizations recall that since January, Israel has expelled over

00:5045,000 Palestinians from this territory.

00:54So they fear that the Israeli government used this explosion, which there is no conclusive

00:59evidence yet, to keep up its military intervention.

01:08Israeli authorities claim that one of the four bodies returned from Gaza was not one

01:13of the captives to be handed over by Hamas.

01:16The Israeli army said early Friday morning that it has completed the process of identifying

01:22three of the bodies of the hostages handed over earlier that day by the Islamic resistance

01:27movement Hamas, and they said that one of them does not match.

01:32The announcement comes at a fragile time for the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which

01:36began on January 19th, and which has been marked by a series of Israeli violations.

01:42And now, this alleged discovery has caused Israel to announce restrictions on the Palestinian

01:47movement and closure in parts of the West Bank as part of its security operations in

01:54the area.