High-ranking officials from the international community urged Israel on Thursday to stop its extensive military actions in the occupied West Bank, which Israel frames as “counter-terrorism” but which have ignited concerns about a potential “expansion of war from Gaza.”

Israeli incursions and drone attacks in Palestinian areas continued for a second day on Thursday.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres characterized Israel’s military campaign, which started early Wednesday in various West Bank hotspot cities, as “dangerous developments” that are “intensifying an already volatile situation.” Josep Borrell, the European Union’s leading diplomat for foreign policy, asserted that Israel’s military should not have the freedom to cause “widespread destruction” in the West Bank like it has in Gaza.

The alerts came after Israel’s military announced on Thursday that it had killed five Palestinian militants who were hiding in a mosque in Tulkarm, a city in the West Bank. The previous day, Israeli troops, supported by helicopters, drones, and armored vehicles, led operations resulting in at least nine Palestinian deaths across Tulkarm, Jenin, Nablus, Tubas, and parts of the Jordan Valley. Additionally, Hamas reported that six of its members were killed in Jenin.

Israeli media outlets described the raids as among the largest in months, although Mustafa Barghouti, a former Palestinian presidential candidate and the current leader of the Palestinian National Initiative, indicated that these operations might be the biggest in the West Bank since 2002.

Barghouti claimed that Israel is aiming to extend its Gaza operations into the West Bank.

This situation unfolds as representatives from Israel, the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar convened in Doha on Wednesday to discuss a ceasefire in Gaza, where over 40,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed since October 7, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, amidst Israel’s retaliation for Hamas’ attacks and abductions in Israel.

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel captured parts of the West Bank from Jordan, the territory has remained under Israeli occupation. Since then, Israel has continued to expand settlements in the area, which international law deems illegal.

Israel claims that its recent operations in the West Bank are focused on eliminating “terror groups and terror cells.”

Conversely, Janez Lenarcic, the EU’s commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management, criticized the “indiscriminate military force, violence from settlers towards civilians, and severe damage to homes and infrastructure” perpetrated by Israel, stating that these actions violate international law and human rights.