Comment on this storyComment
JERUSALEM – Israel launched extensive air and ground attacks in Jenin early Monday. In doing so, it attacked the so-called “operations center” of Jenin Brigade militants, marking an escalation in the occupied West Bank city, which is a hub of Palestinian armed resistance.
The deadly attacks, part of a “broad counterterrorism effort” focused on a densely populated Jenin refugee camp, continued Monday. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, three people were killed and 25 injured in the attack. Israel Defense Forces said at least seven targets were killed in the operation.
“We do it as long as it takes; “There is currently no timetable for this,” IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told reporters.
Shots, drones and explosions were heard in Jenin, Portal reported, adding that militants from the Jenin Brigade said they were working with Israeli forces.
“Most of the terrorist attacks against Israelis came from Jenin,” continued Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog Twitter after the attack, adding that the camp has become an Iranian stronghold over the past two years.
Islamic Jihad, a Tehran-backed militant group that Western nations consider a terrorist organization, said in a statement it was undeterred by the attacks. “Denin will not capitulate,” said the organization, which has supporters in the city.
The refugee camp in the northern West Bank was established in the 1950s and was the target of frequent deadly attacks by the IDF in response to attacks planned in Jenin against civilians inside Israel. The standoff has sparked fears of a return to the bloody guerrilla warfare of two decades ago that killed thousands in the region.
Escalation in the West Bank is feared after the deadly Israeli raid in Jenin
According to the United Nations, Jenin has one of the highest unemployment and poverty rates among the refugee camps in the West Bank. Thousands of camp residents are on Israeli watch lists and are therefore not eligible for work permits.
2023 was a particularly deadly year in Israel and the Occupied Territories. Almost half of the roughly 140 Palestinians killed by Israel in the West Bank between January 1 and late June belonged to militant groups, the Associated Press reported. But in several cases, children were killed as the Israeli security forces used increasingly aggressive tactics. According to a Washington Post investigation, a 14-year-old boy was killed in a March raid in central Jenin. In June, a 15-year-old girl was killed in another raid.
According to a Washington Post tally of media reports and Israeli government figures, at least 23 Israelis were killed by Palestinians by June.
Give this item as a gift