THE Israeli military completed a bloody two-day operation in the occupied West Bank today, ahead of the top United Nations court announcing its decision on South Africa’s latest urgent request for the judges to order a ceasefire in Gaza.

Twelve Palestinians were killed and 25 wounded in the two-day raid, which began on Tuesday in the city of Jenin and an adjacent refugee camp as part of a crackdown on resistance fighters in the area. Palestinian Islamic Jihad said that its members had battled the Israeli forces.

Resistance groups claimed at least eight of the dead as fighters.

Also among the dead was a surgeon at a local hospital, who was killed on his way to work, according to Jenin Governmental Hospital director Wissam Abu Baker.

Jenin and the adjacent urban refugee camp have long been a bastion of armed struggle against Israel’s occupation and the frequency of raids by Israeli troops has increased since the start of the Gaza crisis.

The Palestinian Health Ministry says more than 500 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 7. Many were shot dead in armed clashes during military raids and others after throwing stones or explosives at troops, but people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed.

In Gaza, at least 35,000 Palestinians have lost their lives, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.

In The Hague, the International Court of Justice said today that it would announce this afternoon whether to grant South Africa’s request for an order requiring Israeli forces to “totally and unconditionally withdraw” from the Gaza Strip.

Israel strongly denies charges of genocide, claiming — despite abundant evidence to the contrary — that it is doing everything it can to protect the civilian population.

It was the third time the International Court of Justice, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, had held hearings on the war in Gaza since South Africa filed proceedings in December accusing Israel of genocide.

Also today, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it had reprimanded the ambassadors of Spain, Ireland and Norway for their governments’ decisions to recognise a Palestinian state, describing the “twisted decision” as a “prize to Hamas.”

Ministry director-general Yaakov Blitshtein threatened additional repercussions in relations with the three countries.

In Lebanon, an Israeli drone strike killed one person and wounded three school pupils who were passing on a bus the state-run National News Agency reported.