The number of Palestinians killed in the Israeli army’s ongoing attack on Jenin in the West Bank has risen to ten. This was announced by the Palestinian Ministry of Health and spoke of the discovery of “a body” in the city, whose identity was “still unknown”. The same source reported over 100 injuries, 20 of them seriously. The evacuation of 3,000 people (about 18,000 inhabitants) from the refugee camp was also confirmed, while the Israeli army firmly denied giving the order to the residents to leave the site, calling the news “unfounded”.
President Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) has called on the UN and the international community to “urgently intervene to force Israel to stop the evacuation of residents” of the Jenin refugee camp. “A crime,” added Abu Mazen, who chaired a meeting of Palestinian leaders that night, “adds to the crimes of the occupation.” It also decided to “stop all contacts and meetings with Israel and continue to disrupt security coordination.”
About 3,000 Palestinians left the Jenin refugee camp after the Israeli military operation. This was announced by a Palestinian official. “So far, about 3,000 people have left the camp,” Jenin Deputy Governor Kamal Abu al-Roub said, adding that arrangements were being made to house them in schools and other shelters in the city of Jenin. Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Organization for Palestinian Refugees, confirmed that camp residents were leaving their homes.
Israel launched in Jenin the largest large-scale military operation in the West Bank in at least 20 years. An air and land strike “against hotbeds of terror” – as Defense Secretary Yoav Gallant has said – has killed eight Palestinians and wounded 80 others, including at least 17 seriously, according to an initial budget, which appears tentative. “A new war crime,” thundered Nabil Abu Rudeinah, spokesman for President Abu Mazen, committed by the “Israeli occupation government” against “our defenseless people.” As Hamas and Islamic Jihad threaten revenge, Abu Mazen himself has called an emergency meeting of the Palestinian Authority, and Jordan and Egypt have condemned the Israeli raid. The operation, which the army said is ongoing and which analysts believe could be extended by another 24 hours or more, began Sunday night when Israeli aircraft “established a unified command and control center” in the The city’s refugee camps were targeted, which the army said also served as a weapons and explosives storage facility and as a “hub for coordination and communication between terrorists.” Almost simultaneously, at least a thousand soldiers entered the refugee camp by land and clashes with the militia broke out. The aim of the troops, explained the military spokesman, was to confiscate weapons and track down secret deposits in the refugee camp: bulldozers scraped across the streets for fear of explosive devices being planted. The power went out in parts of the city. During the day, further gun battles broke out around the refugee camp’s mosque, where “armed men had barricaded themselves” and two cavities “containing explosives, weapons and military equipment” were discovered, the military spokesman said, adding that “a plane crashed nearby”. eliminate the threat”. The same source then explained that in another part of the refugee camp, “an explosives manufacturing laboratory with hundreds of devices ready for use” was found. A total of around 300 explosive devices were detonated. The attack on Jenin would have been planned ten days ago after the killing of four Israelis in the West Bank, but also after the June 19 explosive device under an Israeli military vehicle in Jenin itself and the launching of two rockets from the West Bank towards Israel (although they fell back into Palestinian territory). An escalation watched with concern in Israel. Wafa published the names of the Palestinians killed: Samih Firas Abu al-Wafa (aged 20), Hossam Abu Diba (aged 18), Ahmad al-amar (aged 21), Aws al-Hanoun (aged 18), Nour Eddin Husam Marshoud (aged 16), Mohammad Ashami (23), Ali al-Joul (17) and Majdi al-Ararawi (17). According to the media, several of them have been identified as members of the city’s armed groups, although there has been no official confirmation from either Jihad or other factions. Israel has said it warned both the US and the PNA itself about the attack on Jenin, as the PNA has little control over the situation in the city. However, the Palestinian Presidency has denounced that in this way “security and stability in the region will not be achieved”. “The Palestinian people – he added – will not kneel, surrender, raise the white flag and stand firm on their land in the face of this brutal aggression until the occupation is defeated and freedom achieved.” community to break their shameful silence and take serious action to force Israel to stop the aggression.”
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