Mourners have buried their loved ones hours after the Israeli military used helicopter gunships in a wide-scale attack on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, killing five Palestinians and wounding at least 91.
According to the Wafa news agency, the fiercest clashes in years began early Monday after Israeli soldiers stormed the camp and fired live ammunition, stun grenades and poisonous gas. After hours of fighting that followed, combat helicopters were used again for the first time in decades.
One of the Palestinian fatalities was a child.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the victims as Ahmed Saqr (15), Khaled Darwish (21), Qassam Sariya (19), Qassam Faisal Abu Sirriya (29) and Ahmed Daraghmeh.
At least 22 injured Palestinians are believed to be in critical condition.
Mourners attend the funeral of a Palestinian killed by Israeli troops in an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank [Mohamad Torokman/Reuters]In a report from the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim said that Israeli forces withdrew from the camp after several hours.
At the camp cemetery while the burials were underway, Ibrahim said: “Relatives and friends come to pay their respects and to show their solidarity with the families – to show their sadness, to show their anger.”
“Some recite some prayers; others simply wallow in sadness.”
“In this cemetery – we have been coming here for a year – there is almost no space for burials of other Palestinians,” she added.
Journalists on the ground told Al Jazeera that several colleagues were fired upon by Israeli forces during the raid, which took place near where veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead by an Israeli sniper in May 2022.
Four ambulances were attacked by Israeli forces in Jenin, according to Nibal Farsakh, media and information officer for the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
They were “directly fired with live ammunition and caused material damage to the structure and glass of the ambulances themselves,” Farsakh said.
According to Farsakh, medical teams were initially denied access and eventually arrived too late to treat the injured at the scene. Some were “in a very serious condition” and needed urgent medical attention.
Smoke rises from an explosion during an Israeli army attack in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin [Alaa Badarneh/EPA]The Israeli military confirmed that seven of its soldiers were injured during the attack. The army said on its radio station that one soldier’s condition had deteriorated but was stable.
In the raid, two suspects were to be arrested and the soldiers came under fire, leading to a “massive exchange of fire,” the Israeli military said.
One of the suspects they are pursuing is “the son of a jailed Hamas leader,” said West Jerusalem-based Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan.
As the Israeli military vehicles exited the camp, one was “hit by an explosive device, damaging the vehicle,” prompting military helicopters to fire on the gunmen trying to help the forces exit, the army statement said.
Video footage verified by the Sanad agency showed an Israeli helicopter firing a missile at the camp and surveillance planes hovering overhead.
The use of attack helicopters was a 20-year first in the West Bank.
Mohammed Kamanji, a lawyer and field researcher with the Independent Commission on Human Rights, said the latest raid was accompanied by “drones and Apache helicopters,” adding that it was the “biggest” raid in many years.
The Israeli forces commit “serious violations not only against the medics but also against the journalists,” he said.
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, has publicly called for “a large-scale operation across the country.” [occupied] West Bank,” adding that “the time has come.”
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) condemned the Israeli operation as a “heinous crime,” while Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, declared its support for the resistance in Jenin.
A group of PIJ and Hamas leaders were in the Iranian capital Monday for high-level meetings when the raid took place.
Dozens of Palestinians protested in Gaza, condemning the Israeli military’s excessive use of force against civilians. In the Malaka area of eastern Gaza, youths set fire to tires and hoisted Palestinian flags and banners.
Bader Al-Daya, 28, told Al Jazeera he was there to express solidarity and show that Gaza and Jenin are “one body”.
“The Israeli occupation commits crimes every day in all Palestinian territories, and today Jenin is under fire. It is our duty to show solidarity with our brothers in Jenin and to support them with everything we have,” he said. “I don’t know what the international community is waiting for to stop Israel from its ongoing crimes against our people.”
Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, told Al Jazeera the attack on Jenin was not an equivalent “shootout between two sides”.
“It is a criminal war waged by the Israeli, well-equipped army against Palestinian civilians in Jenin,” he said. “They speak of an army using Apache helicopters, F-16 jet fighters, armored vehicles and unlimited gunpowder against the civilian population, mainly in the Jenin camp and in the city of Jenin itself.”
Daniel Levy, a former Israeli negotiator and president of the US/Middle East Project, said the Israeli government is “looking for every opportunity to provoke the Palestinians.”
That round of raids was “about a much more aggressive stance militarily when it comes to moving into these Palestinian territories,” Levy told Al Jazeera.
Israel has been carrying out raids and killings of Palestinians in the West Bank on an almost daily basis since June 2021 to deal with the growing armed resistance.
In 2022, Israeli forces killed more than 170 Palestinians, including at least 30 children, in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in what has been described as the deadliest year for Palestinians living in those areas since 2006.
Since early 2023, Israeli forces have killed at least 160 Palestinians, including 26 children. The death toll includes 36 Palestinians killed by the Israeli army during a four-day attack on the besieged Gaza Strip between May 9-13.