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JENIN, Palestinian Territories: Israel on Monday launched a large-scale military raid with drone strikes and hundreds of soldiers in the northern occupied West Bank, killing seven Palestinians In what the army described as an “intensive counter-terrorism effort”.
The operation under the far-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the largest of its kind in years with bulldozers, armored vehicles and drones.
Masked Palestinian gunmen fired towards Israeli soldiers as sirens sounded. Other Palestinians threw stones.
Israel had already stepped up operations in the northern West Bank, home to the city of Jenin and its neighboring refugee camp, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups and where there have been a series of attacks on Israelis as well as attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinians. Communities.
“We are hitting the center of terror (Jenin) with great force,” Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told reporters.
The Palestinian health ministry said seven people were killed – the same toll from an Israeli army raid on the Jenin refugee camp two weeks ago that saw the rare use of helicopter missiles.
“There is an aerial bombardment and a ground invasion,” Mahmoud al-Saadi, director of the Palestinian Red Crescent in Jenin, told AFP.
Several houses and sites were bombed. Smoke is rising from everywhere.
The IDF said its forces had bombed a “joint operations center” that was being used as a command post for the “Jenin Brigade”, a local armed group.
The area is nominally under the control of the Palestinian Authority, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, which has partial administrative control of the West Bank.
The military said it targeted a “surveillance and reconnaissance” site, as well as a weapons storage facility and a hideout for those who allegedly carried out attacks on Israeli targets in recent months.
Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has worsened since early last year, including under the latest Netanyahu administration, which took power in December, an alliance between his Likud party and allies on the far right and ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Netanyahu’s coalition includes hard-line settlers in the West Bank, including far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
“People were aware we might get in,” Army spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters, but the method of striking from the air “with a target right in the heart of the camp” basically surprised them.
He said the forces remained inside the camp but pursued “specific goals” and “do not try to hold out”.
“We are still confiscating weapons and ammunition” and “infrastructure,” Hecht said, adding that the focus is on the Jenin camp and that there is no set timetable for ending the operation.
He said that the matter is related to a number of forces “at the brigade level”.
An army statement said a soldier was slightly wounded “by shrapnel from an Israeli army hand grenade.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six Day War in 1967.
Excluding annexed East Jerusalem, the area is now home to some 490,000 Israelis who live in settlements considered illegal under international law.
The Palestinians, who seek their own independent state, want Israel to withdraw from all lands captured in the Six-Day War and dismantle all Jewish settlements.
However, Netanyahu has vowed to “strengthen the settlements” and has shown no interest in reviving peace talks, which have been moribund since 2014.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said a Palestinian youth was also killed by Israeli fire near the West Bank city of Ramallah in a separate incident.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement said in a statement, “All options are open to strike the enemy (Israel) in response to its aggression in Jenin.”
In neighboring Jordan, Foreign Ministry spokesman Sinan Majali asserted, “The continued escalation constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian law, as well as Israel’s obligations as an occupying power.”
The Israeli raid last month saw helicopter missiles fired as part of efforts to clear the way for the Israeli forces, who met heavy resistance, including an explosive device that hit an armored vehicle.
In another rare act in the same week, the Israeli military said it carried out a drone strike to kill three members of a “terror cell” in the West Bank.
After the raid on Jenin last month, four Israelis were killed when two Palestinian gunmen attacked a gas station near the West Bank settlement of Eli. The attackers were shot dead.
Since the beginning of the year, at least 184 Palestinians and 25 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed, according to an AFP tally compiled by official sources on both sides.
Among them, on the Palestinian side, are fighters and civilians, and on the Israeli side, mostly civilians and three members of the Arab minority.
The operation under the far-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the largest of its kind in years with bulldozers, armored vehicles and drones.
Masked Palestinian gunmen fired towards Israeli soldiers as sirens sounded. Other Palestinians threw stones.
Israel had already stepped up operations in the northern West Bank, home to the city of Jenin and its neighboring refugee camp, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups and where there have been a series of attacks on Israelis as well as attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinians. Communities.
“We are hitting the center of terror (Jenin) with great force,” Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told reporters.
The Palestinian health ministry said seven people were killed – the same toll from an Israeli army raid on the Jenin refugee camp two weeks ago that saw the rare use of helicopter missiles.
“There is an aerial bombardment and a ground invasion,” Mahmoud al-Saadi, director of the Palestinian Red Crescent in Jenin, told AFP.
Several houses and sites were bombed. Smoke is rising from everywhere.
The IDF said its forces had bombed a “joint operations center” that was being used as a command post for the “Jenin Brigade”, a local armed group.
The area is nominally under the control of the Palestinian Authority, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, which has partial administrative control of the West Bank.
The military said it targeted a “surveillance and reconnaissance” site, as well as a weapons storage facility and a hideout for those who allegedly carried out attacks on Israeli targets in recent months.
Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has worsened since early last year, including under the latest Netanyahu administration, which took power in December, an alliance between his Likud party and allies on the far right and ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Netanyahu’s coalition includes hard-line settlers in the West Bank, including far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
“People were aware we might get in,” Army spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters, but the method of striking from the air “with a target right in the heart of the camp” basically surprised them.
He said the forces remained inside the camp but pursued “specific goals” and “do not try to hold out”.
“We are still confiscating weapons and ammunition” and “infrastructure,” Hecht said, adding that the focus is on the Jenin camp and that there is no set timetable for ending the operation.
He said that the matter is related to a number of forces “at the brigade level”.
An army statement said a soldier was slightly wounded “by shrapnel from an Israeli army hand grenade.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six Day War in 1967.
Excluding annexed East Jerusalem, the area is now home to some 490,000 Israelis who live in settlements considered illegal under international law.
The Palestinians, who seek their own independent state, want Israel to withdraw from all lands captured in the Six-Day War and dismantle all Jewish settlements.
However, Netanyahu has vowed to “strengthen the settlements” and has shown no interest in reviving peace talks, which have been moribund since 2014.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said a Palestinian youth was also killed by Israeli fire near the West Bank city of Ramallah in a separate incident.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement said in a statement, “All options are open to strike the enemy (Israel) in response to its aggression in Jenin.”
In neighboring Jordan, Foreign Ministry spokesman Sinan Majali asserted, “The continued escalation constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian law, as well as Israel’s obligations as an occupying power.”
The Israeli raid last month saw helicopter missiles fired as part of efforts to clear the way for the Israeli forces, who met heavy resistance, including an explosive device that hit an armored vehicle.
In another rare act in the same week, the Israeli military said it carried out a drone strike to kill three members of a “terror cell” in the West Bank.
After the raid on Jenin last month, four Israelis were killed when two Palestinian gunmen attacked a gas station near the West Bank settlement of Eli. The attackers were shot dead.
Since the beginning of the year, at least 184 Palestinians and 25 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed, according to an AFP tally compiled by official sources on both sides.
Among them, on the Palestinian side, are fighters and civilians, and on the Israeli side, mostly civilians and three members of the Arab minority.
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