In a vertiginous deterioration of the situation in the West Bank after a year of attacks, raids and armed clashes, a drone attack launched shortly after 1 pm on Sunday to the largest military operation by Israel against armed groups in Jenin. in the last 20 years. With the stated goal of “putting an end to Jenin’s role as a haven for terrorism and hitting terrorists and their infrastructures”, hundreds of soldiers -assisted by the Air Force- clashed with militants in clashes that Hamas and Islamic Jihad have reported from Gaza. become one on a large scale “if the Zionist enemy does not stop the aggression”.
Eight Palestinians died, the vast majority of them militants linked to the so-called “Jenin Brigade”, and 80 were injured, including a dozen in serious condition, according to the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) while from the refugee camp They denounced problems with water and electricity supply due to infrastructure damage during the raid.
After noting that its information indicates that all those killed in Jenin on Monday were armed forces, the Israeli army claims to have detained more than 20 suspects and found weapons and explosives, including in two underground spaces in a mosque, as well as laboratories with hundreds of explosive devices in the great stronghold of Islamic Jihad. “We have dealt a heavy blow to the terrorist organizations in Jenin,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced while Foreign Minister Eli Cohen added: “We are fighting against militias that are financed and encouraged by Iran to attack Israel. It is an action against terrorists and not civilians”. His words did not convince Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which condemned “Israeli aggression against the Palestinians” and demanded their cessation.
The forecast and desire in the military leadership is that the operation ends this Tuesday, although Israelis and Palestinians agree that it will not be the last. “More than 50 armed attacks have been carried out by terrorists from Jenin since the beginning of 2023 and 19 terrorists fled to the Jenin refugee camp after committing attacks since September,” justified military sources who insisted that despite the number of forces used “it is about of limited action against terrorists in the Jenin countryside and not against the PNA”.
The chairman of the increasingly weakened PNA, Abu Mazen, once again announced a complete cessation of security cooperation with Israel, hailing the “Jenin martyrs” and calling on the international community to provide them with defense. After condemning “the new war crime against our defenseless people that will not give them security,” his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina indicated that “the Palestinian people will not surrender until the occupation is broken.”
“The aggression will not achieve its objectives. Jenin will remain a symbol of firmness and will not surrender. Our fighters are determined to fight, regardless of the number of casualties,” said Islamic Jihad spokesman Daoud Shihab, referring to a possible launch of shells from Gaza, warned: “All options are on the table. The resistance leadership is closely monitoring what is happening.” Leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad denounced from Beirut and Tehran what they define as “massacre” and called for attacks against Israelis.
The intensity of Israel’s ground and air incursion into Jenin, approved ten days ago, is far from that used during the Second Intifada but exceeds that of those carried out in 2023.
All roads – in this case events – led to Jenin. In the past two weeks, seven Palestinians have been killed in a raid in Jenin, four Israelis have been shot by two Hamas members in a restaurant near the Eli settlement, young Israeli extremists have burned Palestinian houses and cars, three militiamen who, after shooting from their car against a border crossing, were hit by a drone in the first action of this type in the West Bank in 17 years and the unprecedented and frustrated launch of two projectiles from the Jenin area against Israel. These last two facts, more typical of the reality of Gaza in the escalations of the last decade, show how the northern West Bank has become a powder keg.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project