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JENIN: Palestinian militants marched in Jenin on Wednesday and angry crowds confronted senior Palestinian Authority officials, accusing them of weakness after one of the largest Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank in years.
The operation, which the Israeli army said targeted the infrastructure and weapons depots of the militant factions in the Jenin refugee camp, destroyed streets and burned cars, and sparked outrage across the Arab world.
At least 12 Palestinians, most of them active combatants, were killed and about 100 wounded in an incursion that began with drone strikes late at night, followed by a sweep involving more than 1,000 Israeli soldiers. One Israeli soldier was also killed during the operation.
“We stayed inside the house, but they cut off the electricity and then the water,” he said. Mohammad MansourA resident of the camp, where armored bulldozers ripped through the streets to reveal roadside bombs and cut electricity cables and water pipes. “We ended up running out of bread and supplies.”
At the funeral of 10 of the dead, three senior Palestinian Authority leaders were forced to leave after facing a crowd of thousands, including dozens of armed men. Following the withdrawal of the Israeli force on Tuesday evening, pro-Iranian leaders emerged Islamic Jihad Other armed factions declared victory, and the mood among those returning to the camp seemed united. “They didn’t get what they wanted, thank God,” said Mutassim Statia, a father of six.
The IDF said that Israeli forces arrested 150 suspected militants, seized weapons and roadside mines, and destroyed a command post. It added that all the Palestinian dead were armed fighters. Seven members were claimed by Islamic Jihad, and another member was claimed by Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Tuesday that the Jenin operation was unlikely to be a “one-off” and said it would be “the beginning of regular incursions and continued control of the Strip”. In turn, a spokesman for the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, said that “every alley and street will soon turn into clashes and battlefields.”
The operation, which the Israeli army said targeted the infrastructure and weapons depots of the militant factions in the Jenin refugee camp, destroyed streets and burned cars, and sparked outrage across the Arab world.
At least 12 Palestinians, most of them active combatants, were killed and about 100 wounded in an incursion that began with drone strikes late at night, followed by a sweep involving more than 1,000 Israeli soldiers. One Israeli soldier was also killed during the operation.
“We stayed inside the house, but they cut off the electricity and then the water,” he said. Mohammad MansourA resident of the camp, where armored bulldozers ripped through the streets to reveal roadside bombs and cut electricity cables and water pipes. “We ended up running out of bread and supplies.”
At the funeral of 10 of the dead, three senior Palestinian Authority leaders were forced to leave after facing a crowd of thousands, including dozens of armed men. Following the withdrawal of the Israeli force on Tuesday evening, pro-Iranian leaders emerged Islamic Jihad Other armed factions declared victory, and the mood among those returning to the camp seemed united. “They didn’t get what they wanted, thank God,” said Mutassim Statia, a father of six.
The IDF said that Israeli forces arrested 150 suspected militants, seized weapons and roadside mines, and destroyed a command post. It added that all the Palestinian dead were armed fighters. Seven members were claimed by Islamic Jihad, and another member was claimed by Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Tuesday that the Jenin operation was unlikely to be a “one-off” and said it would be “the beginning of regular incursions and continued control of the Strip”. In turn, a spokesman for the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, said that “every alley and street will soon turn into clashes and battlefields.”
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