The United States said it was seeking to clarify Israel's aims after its ally launched an offensive in the occupied West Bank that Palestinian and Israeli media said was the largest such attack since the second intifada.

A senior US State Department official said in response to a question from a Quds.com correspondent, "We are aware of Israel's real security needs, which include combating terrorist activities in the West Bank."

At the same time, we continue to insist that the Israeli authorities take the necessary measures to protect all civilians from harm.”

"We continue to be deeply concerned about maintaining stability in the West Bank and continue to urge Israel to take all possible measures to protect the lives of civilians in the West Bank - just as we urge it to do in Gaza," the official added in response to Al-Quds.com.

Israeli occupation forces stormed parts of the northern West Bank with military helicopters and large convoys of armored vehicles, attacking three cities - Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas.

Despite the breadth and scale of the Israeli military offensive, which is the largest since the Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s, the Biden administration has so far refrained from addressing the matter publicly, except for vague responses to reporters’ questions.

“The number of military vehicles that have stormed Jenin is very large,” Shaza Sabbagh, a resident of Jenin camp, told Middle East Eye. “The three main hospitals are surrounded and all the roads leading to the city are closed with dirt barriers. We haven’t seen an incursion of this size for a long time, and it looks like it will continue for several days.”

It is noteworthy that in a move unrelated to the recent actions of the Israeli occupation authorities, the United States announced new sanctions against an Israeli settlement group in the occupied West Bank (Hashomer Yosh) that receives financial support from the Israeli government and had raised funds in the United States.

A State Department spokesperson told Middle East Eye that Washington recognised “Israel’s very real security needs, which include countering terrorist activity in the West Bank”.

The attack comes amid continued faltering Gaza ceasefire talks, with diplomats seeing little optimism.

While the United States and its Arab partners were concerned about the possibility of war between Israel and Iran, Israel launched a blatant attack on the occupied West Bank and escalated its attacks on Gaza.

The occupied West Bank is home to the deeply unpopular, US-backed Palestinian Authority and borders Jordan, a key US ally whose population is mostly Palestinian.

Israel has expanded its war across the region, assassinating Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut last month, but its decision to launch a large-scale offensive in the occupied West Bank could raise fears that Israel is entering a new conflict that would be difficult to contain.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has raised the specter of forced displacement in the occupied West Bank, saying that in places where “heavy fighting is taking place,” Israel should impose “temporary evacuation from one neighborhood to another” similar to what Israel does in Gaza.

Katz's comments drew a swift rebuke from Josep Borrell, the European Union's top diplomat.

“A major Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank should not be a basis for extending the war from Gaza, including complete destruction,” Borrell said, according to the Middle East Eye website. “The parallel drawn by Minister Katz, particularly with regard to the evacuation of the Palestinian population, risks fueling further instability.”

A former senior Jordanian official told the site on condition of anonymity that the Israeli attack and Katz's comments were "the kind of nightmare scenario the kingdom was waiting for."

In turn, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi condemned the "extremism of this Israeli government" on X. He added that "Israel's expansion of its war against the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank is a dangerous escalation that must be stopped."

Jordan is a close ally of the United States and relies heavily on American aid and security assistance. The Hashemite Kingdom has seen massive protests, with demonstrators calling on King Abdullah II to cancel the country’s peace treaty with Israel.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces killed 10 people and injured 22 in the attack.

Its head in the West Bank, Younis al-Khatib, said ambulances came under Israeli fire and one employee was injured.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said the Israeli operations took place "in close proximity to four hospitals" and that at least some of them were "besieged," affecting the movement of medical teams.

Israeli forces said they killed at least nine Palestinian fighters and arrested five others, and that they carried out at least two drone strikes, a rare occurrence in the occupied West Bank before Israel's war on Gaza on October 7.