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00:00It's the second day of raids so it's extended for a second day. Three sites in
00:05the northern West Bank that Israel says it has identified militant cells
00:09particularly those that have been placing IEDs roadside bombs throughout
00:14the West Bank and near Israeli towns. That's the Israeli military account of
00:20what it's doing in the West Bank but by air as well by the way many of the
00:25attacks coming from the air that's become increasingly common but still
00:29is not fully you would say normal behavior in the West Bank but it has
00:33become increasingly common in the past year. What the Palestinians are saying is
00:38that Israel is simply replicating its behavior in Gaza because of the Gaza War.
00:43What Israel the Israeli military is saying and Israeli analysts are saying
00:47is it's actually the reverse that the Palestinian militants are upping their
00:52activities in the West Bank and their organization in the West Bank that's
00:55Islamic Jihad and Hamas because of the level of destruction of their forces in
01:01the Gaza Strip. So whichever way you look at it whichever one prompted the
01:06other we are now seeing the second day of a major engagement and we do see some
01:12of the same tactics being employed that is Palestinian militants hiding out in a
01:17mosque being caught there by Israeli military according to Israeli military
01:21sources. So it's both similar and yet different from Gaza but what I guess
01:29worrying about all of this is that the West Bank can't hide any longer behind
01:33Gaza and behind what's happening on the northern front with Lebanon and Hezbollah
01:38because of the level of engagement now in the West Bank as well.
01:42Well let's talk Iris about international reaction to what's happening in the West
01:47Bank particularly to Israel's actions there. Yesterday we heard the United
01:51States announcing sanctions on a small group of settlers in the West Bank and
01:55now we have the foreign policy head of the EU Joseph Burrell talking about the
02:01idea of sanctions against Israeli ministers. How significant might that be?
02:06I think it is significant we've heard from the UN Secretary-General Antonio
02:11Guterres today calling for this military action in the West Bank to cease saying
02:16it only increases the chances of an explosion there and we heard from Joseph
02:22Burrell today calling all the 27 EU states suggesting and seeking that they
02:28impose sanctions on Israeli leaders who he says incite against Palestinians. It's
02:34unlikely at the moment that he will get across-the-board agreement from 27
02:39foreign ministers but individual states can impose sanctions you know asset
02:44freezes, travel bans, all those kind of things and we've already heard today
02:48from the Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin saying that Ireland would be
02:53prepared to do that. So if you're looking at the level of response we heard from
02:58Washington yesterday, we hear from the EU today, we heard from the UN, we've heard
03:04of course from the ICJ, the International Criminal Court seeking sanctions
03:09against Israeli leaders and Hamas leaders. All of these things together
03:13lets you know that there's a diplomatic war being waged as well as a military one.