Jerusalem CNN –
Israel Defense Forces continued military operations in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin for a second night, a day after raids killed at least 10 people between the ages of 16 and 23 and wounded about 100 others.
According to Palestinian officials, thousands fled their homes overnight in the refugee camp, where power and water supplies had been severely damaged.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a joint statement Tuesday morning that they conducted “anti-terrorist activities in Jenin and the Jenin camp” overnight, using intelligence from the Israel Securities and Exchange Commission (ISA) and the Israel Border Police.
The operation continued on the same day that at least eight people were injured in a car ramming and knife attack in Tel Aviv.
According to the IDF, the military operation continued Tuesday morning, with Israeli forces searching for 10 remaining key targets in the Jenin refugee camp. At least 120 people were arrested, according to Israeli forces.
IDF chief spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Twitter that there was “no point [Jenin] camp” which they did not enter, including the center.
Hagari said the IDF had carried out “a large number of raids, ambushes, laboratory destructions and explosive attacks” and that no “non-combatants” had been killed so far.
“We allowed all women and children to leave the camp on their own initiative,” Hagari said.
So far, ten Palestinians have been killed and more than 100 injured. According to the IDF, civilians were also among the injured.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, thousands of Palestinians evacuated the camp overnight.
Video taken Tuesday morning in Jenin shows destroyed roads that the IDF said were used to disarm IEDs and smoke billowing over the refugee camp where Israeli military operations took place.
The IDF said on Tuesday that it had located and neutralized an “underground storage mine for explosive devices in the heart of the Jenin camp,” and that IDF soldiers had “located and dismantled two terrorist organizations’ operational areas in the area.”
Their soldiers also seized weapons, explosives and military equipment in Jenin and “disarmed a grenade launcher,” according to the IDF.
A military source said Monday the operation was the largest military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin in more than 20 years.
The IDF attacked the “terrorist infrastructure” on Monday and carried out around ten airstrikes using drones. Hundreds of soldiers targeted allegedly militant “command and control centers” and weapons and explosives production sites. Their aim, according to the IDF, is to destroy Jenin as a “safe haven” for militants.
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An Israeli armored vehicle fires tear gas on Tuesday, July 4, during an ongoing military operation in Jenin in the West Bank.
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People flee the Jenin refugee camp on Tuesday.
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Smoke billows from buildings in Jenin, West Bank, Monday, July 3.
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An injured Palestinian is taken to a hospital in Jenin on Monday.
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Palestinian militants take position during a confrontation with Israeli forces in Jenin on Monday.
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Aircraft fly during the Israeli military operation in Jenin on Monday.
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Palestinians take cover during Israeli military operation in Jenin.
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A Palestinian looks out of a window Monday as smoke billows after an Israeli airstrike in Jenin.
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The injured will be taken to Jenin hospital on Sunday.
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A convoy of Israeli army vehicles was spotted during the Israeli raid on Jenin on Monday.
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Palestinian women react during the Israeli military operation in Jenin on Monday.
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Tires burn in Jenin refugee camp during an Israeli military attack on Monday.
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The Israeli military transported a wounded person to a helicopter during a raid on the Jenin refugee camp on Monday.
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Palestinians wait outside a hospital in Jenin on Monday while paramedics transport injured people.
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Palestinians walk through the damaged streets of Jenin.
Speaking about the first day of the Israeli military operation, 35-year-old Jenin native Lina Amouri said her family hid from the shots until they heard mosques announce the evacuation.
“We all hid in an apartment that had no windows so we wouldn’t risk someone getting hit by a bullet. Three women and six children aged 1 to 9 without electricity or internet connection since 5 a.m. It was a terrible day,” she said.
“The children cried all day and we didn’t know how to calm them down. The only thing we could do was pray together while listening to explosions and bulldozers outside.”
Amouri also likened the scene to a natural disaster.
“When we first went out to see what was happening, it was a completely different place, all the roads were plowed, water and sewage pipes were broken, power poles were broken, cars were stacked on top of each other. It felt like a storm with earthquakes had just passed.”
Mohamad Torokman/Portal
People walk past rubble and a building damaged during an Israeli military operation in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank July 4.
Duha Turkman, a 16-year-old Jenin resident, said they heard an announcement from the mosque’s loudspeakers that they had two hours to evacuate. It is unclear where the order came from, but the IDF told CNN that no one was asked to leave the camp.
“We ran out of the camp with people, so many kids were walking with their parents scared and crying, they didn’t understand what was happening to them and why,” she told CNN. “Many were missing; Families were looking for members they were unable to contact due to the power outage.”
Turkman told CNN that her family’s home before the evacuation at the start of the operation was taken over by Israeli forces and the apartment was left “upside down.”
“They broke into our house early in the morning, locked us all in one room, five women and two children in one room, and in another room they locked five men – my father, brothers and uncles,” she said.
“They used the house as a sniper position to attack the camp while we couldn’t use a toilet, go to the kitchen, or do anything but sit in the room and listen to the explosions outside.”
CNN cannot independently verify the accounts of these two eyewitnesses.
Jenin Deputy Mayor Mohammed Jarrar said houses and infrastructure had been destroyed, cutting off electricity and water in the refugee camp.
Aid agencies accused Israeli forces of blocking access to the camp and obstructing medical supplies, the IDF claims.
According to the director of the Palestinian Red Crescent in Jenin, Mahmoud al-Saadi, some crew members have been prevented from operating inside the camp, the Palestinian Red Crescent said. The international medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) also accused the Israeli armed forces of impeding access to medical care in Jenin. The IDF said ambulances had “free travel” in the camp.
On Tuesday morning, the Palestinian Health Ministry said the body of the tenth Palestinian man killed was discovered in Jenin. Earlier, the ministry said five of those killed in the attack were teenagers and of the 100 wounded, 20 were in serious condition.
Hagari, the IDF spokesman, acknowledged on Monday that civilians were among the injured but insisted the operation was aimed only at “terrorists”.
“It’s not an invasion of Jenin, it’s not against the Palestinian Authority. It’s not aimed at innocent, innocent Palestinians. It’s aimed at terrorists in this camp,” he said.
The robbery prompted an immediate conviction. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has called the large-scale Israeli military operation “a new war crime,” while Egypt has called the Israeli invasion an act of “aggression.”
The militant group Hamas called on all of its cells in the West Bank and Jerusalem to attack Israel “by any available means,” according to a statement from its military wing.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military had acted “against terrorist strongholds in Jenin.”
“In recent months, Jenin has emerged as a safe haven for terrorists. “Terrorists carried out horrific attacks and murdered Israeli civilians, men, women and children, as many children as they could find,” Netanyahu said at a US embassy event in Jerusalem Monday night.