The Hamas resistance movement has strongly condemned the upsurge in attacks by illegal settlers and the army against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, saying that Israeli officials are vying with each other for the massacre of Palestinians.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the Gaza-based group described the ongoing Israeli criminal offensive in the West Bank, accompanied by raids, abductions, demolition of homes, and forced eviction of families from their homes, as an extension of aggression being perpetrated against the oppressed Palestinian nation.

It underscored that such atrocities will neither succeed in breaking the will of resilient Palestinians nor will they detach them from their homeland and inalienable rights.

“A unified national stance and serious international action are required to halt the occupying regime’s criminal policies, brutality and abuse. These moves will deter the Zionist entity and its leaders, who are vying with each other for the murder of Palestinians,” Hamas stated.

The resistance group went on to express firm solidarity with the Palestinians in the West Bank, and called for the enhancement of all forms of support in the face of Israel’s escalatory measures.

“Our nation will remain steadfast, and will never forego its homeland as well as the right to freedom and dignity. The Israeli regime’s assaults, coupled with the criminal acts of illegal settlers, will only stir up public anger and further determine Palestinians to pursue the path of resistance,” Hamas stated.

Israeli forces launch mass raids, displace Palestinians across West Bank after resistance operation

Israeli forces raided at least 13 towns across the northern occupied West Bank as hundreds of families on the southern side were ordered to evacuate.

Netanyahu: Big surprise in store for Palestinian Authority

Meanwhile, the Israeli regime's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he had a ‘‘big surprise’’ in store for the Palestinian Authority after ordering a major military offensive in the occupied West Bank following a deadly attack targeting the regime’s soldiers in the West Bank.

“We transformed the Middle East. I said that we would change things and we have,” he asserted on Friday evening on the Israeli channel i24NEWS while campaigning ahead of Tuesday’s parliamentary elections.

"There is a very big surprise also waiting for the Palestinian Authority,’’ he added, without providing further details.

On Friday, two Palestinians killed two Israeli soldiers in a retaliatory shooting operation near al-Khalil before being shot dead on the southern side of the West Bank.

Meanwhile, al-Khalil Mayor Yousef al-Ja’bari said nearly 2,200 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes in al-Jalda and Ein Deir Bahha neighborhoods of the city, as Israeli forces continue their raids in the occupied West Bank.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club rights group, Israeli forces abducted scores of Palestinians across the West Bank on Saturday. There were reports of raids in 15 areas, including Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus, Bethlehem, al-Quds, al-Bireh and Birzeit.