The largest Israeli military incursion into the West Bank in years has already pushed thousands of Palestinians out of the refugee camp in Jenin, a city in the northern occupied West Bank rocked by shootings and explosions for more than a year. daytime.

“About 3,000 people have already left the camp,” Deputy Governor of Jenin Kamal Abu Al-Roub told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Monday evening, July 3, adding that measures were being taken. taken to accommodate them in schools and other premises in the city of Jenin. Juliette Touma, spokeswoman for the UN agency for Palestine refugees, confirmed that residents were leaving the camp – home to some 18,000 Palestinians – a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups repeatedly targeted by Israeli operations .

According to a latest report from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, nine Palestinians were killed in Jenin, and 100 others injured – including twenty in serious condition – during this vast military campaign which mobilized hundreds of Israeli soldiers and made particular use of of drones.

“Our forces have entered the nest of terrorists in Jenin (…) they are destroying command centers and seizing a considerable amount of weapons,” Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said. in a press release. Palestinians were throwing stones at Israeli soldiers, under a sky blackened by smoke from explosions and burning barricades, an AFP correspondent noted.

“There are aerial bombardments and a ground invasion,” Mahmoud Al-Saadi, director of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Jenin, told AFP. “Several houses and sites have been bombed (…) Smoke rises from everywhere. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry denounced “an open war against the people in Jenin.” »

“Worst Raid in Five Years”

The Israeli operation comes as the northern occupied West Bank has seen a recent spate of attacks on Israelis as well as anti-Palestinian violence by Jewish settlers.

On Monday, the Israeli army reported clashes between soldiers and gunmen at a mosque in the Jenin camp, adding that weapons and explosives were later found there. She also said she targeted “terrorist infrastructure” and an “operations center” serving as a command center for the “Jenin Brigade”, a local armed group.

“I saw bulldozers in the camp destroying houses,” resident Badr Shagoul told AFP. At the city hospital, an AFP reporter saw bodies lying in the morgue, some for hours, as relatives waited for the funeral fighting to end. “We received many wounded, hit by explosives from the sky, many also wounded by bullets,” said Qasem Benighader, a 35-year-old nurse. “This is the worst raid in five years.”

Military spokesman Richard Hecht claimed that the army was “acting against specific targets” and that “the airstrike, right in the heart of the [Jenin] camp, took them by surprise”, adding that he did not there was no specific timetable for the current operation.

The situation is “catastrophic,” said Jenin camp resident Mahmoud Hawashin. “If more Palestinian blood will flow, there will also be more Israeli blood flowing. »

“All options are on the table to strike the enemy,” warned Palestinian Islamic Jihad Hamas leader Ishmael Haniyeh, denouncing a “brutal” Israeli operation.

Support from Washington

Abroad, neighboring Jordan denounced “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, as well as of Israel’s obligations as an occupying power”. The Emirates, another Arab country with diplomatic ties to Israel, called on Israel to “refrain from any action that escalates tensions (…) and leads to the perpetuation of the cycle of violence. The Arab League announced an emergency meeting on Tuesday.

“We support Israel’s security and its right to defend its people,” a US State Department spokesman in Washington said, adding that it was “imperative to take every possible precaution to avoid the death of civilians”.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, a man was killed by the Israeli army on Monday in Al-Bireh, near Ramallah, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has killed at least 186 Palestinians, 25 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian since the beginning of the year, according to an AFP count compiled from official sources.