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.