A large-scale Israeli operation in which ten Palestinians were killed continues on Tuesday in the city and camp of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank, mobilizing hundreds of soldiers.
This operation, the most important of the Israeli army in the West Bank for several years, was prolonged in the night from Monday to Tuesday. The army said it had “neutralized” an underground well used to store explosives in Jenin (north).
“In addition, the soldiers located and dismantled two operations rooms belonging to terrorist organizations in the area,” she said in a statement on Tuesday.
The city of Jenin and the adjacent refugee camp, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups, have been repeatedly targeted by Israeli operations. The northern occupied West Bank has seen a recent spate of attacks on Israelis as well as anti-Palestinian violence by Jewish settlers.
According to a new report from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, ten Palestinians have been killed and 100 injured, 20 of whom are in serious condition.
“Our forces have entered the nest of terrorists in Jenin (…), they are destroying command centers and seizing a considerable amount of weapons”, declared the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in a statement.
It is “an open war against the population in Jenin”, denounced the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The almost deserted streets of Jenin are strewn with debris and stones, the asphalt is gutted and the roadway is blackened around improvised barricades, noted an AFP journalist. The stores remain closed.
The fighting caused the exodus on Monday evening of “about 3,000” inhabitants of the camp, where some 18,000 Palestinians live, according to the deputy governor of Jenin, Kamal Abu al-Roub.
On Monday, the Israeli army said it had targeted “terrorist infrastructure” and an “operations center” serving as a command center for the “Jenin Brigade”, a local armed group.
Faced with drone strikes, Palestinians threw stones at Israeli soldiers, under a sky blackened by the smoke of explosions and burning barricades, noted an AFP journalist.
“There are aerial bombardments and an invasion on the ground,” Mahmoud al-Saadi, director of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Jenin, told AFP. Houses are “bombed” and “smoke rises everywhere.”
Clashes also took place between soldiers and armed men in a mosque in the Jenin camp, according to the army, which said it seized weapons and explosives there.
“I saw bulldozers in the camp destroying houses,” resident Badr Shagoul told AFP.
“We received a lot of wounded”, especially “by bullets”, says Qasem Benighader, a 35-year-old nurse at the Jenin hospital: “This is the worst raid for five years.”
Officials of the Palestinian Authority, which administers Jenin, have announced a general strike.
“If more Palestinian blood flows, there will also be more Israeli blood flowing,” said Jenin camp resident Mahmoud Hawashin.
In June, seven people were killed in an Israeli raid on the Jenin camp. Shortly after, four Israelis were shot dead by two Palestinians near the Jewish settlement of Eli (north).
“All options are on the table to strike the enemy,” warned Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas leader Ishmael Haniyeh, denouncing him a “brutal” Israeli operation.
On the diplomatic front, the Arab League announced an emergency meeting on Tuesday.
Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, Arab countries maintaining diplomatic ties with Israel, denounced the operation.
Washington, for its part, said it supported “Israel’s security and its right to defend its population”.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed his “deep concern”.
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 established from official sources.
07/04/2023 08:52:52 – Jenin (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP