AFPThe Palestinian Health Ministry said at least 10 people were killed and nearly 40 wounded during a large-scale Israeli military operation in the West Bank’s Jenin region.
Palestinian media reported several airstrikes on Tuesday as large troops entered cities and refugee camps, backed by drones, helicopters and armored bulldozers.
Israel’s prime minister said he had launched a “wide-ranging and significant” operation to “repel terrorism” in Jenin, long considered a stronghold of Palestinian militant groups.
The incident, which comes three days after a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip, highlights the threat of more violence in the West Bank, where suspected Israeli settlers also ran amok on Monday night.
“What is happening now is an invasion of the camp,” Jenin Governor Kamal Abu Alub told AFP. “The Apache attack was carried out quickly.” [helicopters] “There are Israeli military vehicles everywhere in the sky.”
Citing local sources, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli forces were “completely surrounding” the Jenin camp and that armored bulldozers had dug up several streets.
It also quoted Wissam Bakr, director of the Jenin Government Hospital, as saying that three doctors and two nurses were among those injured in Israeli gunfire.
Palestinian security personnel reportedly withdrew from some positions around the Jenin refugee camp ahead of the Israeli army’s advance on Tuesday morning.
Palestinian security forces spokesman Brigadier General Anwar Rajab told AFP that Israeli forces “opened fire on civilians and security forces, resulting in numerous injuries.”
On Tuesday evening, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that nine men and a 16-year-old boy named Mutaz Abu Tbeikh were killed by Israeli forces in Jenin.
Another man was shot dead by Israeli forces in the village of Tianik, about 8 kilometers northwest, he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Tuesday that the Jenin operation, dubbed “Iron Wall,” was “a further step toward achieving the goal we have set, namely strengthening security” in the West Bank.
“We are acting systematically and decisively in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and wherever the Iranian axis reaches. [the West Bank] – And we’re still active.”
Israel has accused Iran of smuggling weapons and funds to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other militant groups in the West Bank to foment unrest.
Israeli media, citing military sources, said the goal of the operation was to preserve “freedom of action” in the West Bank, dismantle the infrastructure of armed groups and eliminate imminent threats.
Mohamed Mustafa, Prime Minister of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, condemned the raid as the latest in a series of aggressive Israeli actions against Palestinians in the West Bank, Wafa reported.
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have called on Palestinians in the West Bank to escalate attacks against Israel in response to Operation Jenin.
There have been several previous Israeli military operations in Jenin.
And recently, the PA’s security forces carried out a controversial weeks-long operation against armed groups there, including Hamas and PIJ, in a bid to reassert their control.
October 7, 2023 Violence has surged in the West Bank since Hamas’ attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed as Israeli forces step up airstrikes, saying they are trying to stop deadly Palestinian attacks on the West Bank and Israel.
AFPIn another incident in the West Bank from Monday to Tuesday, dozens of masked Israeli extremists attacked Palestinians in two villages, Jinsaput and Alfunduk, east of Qalqilia, setting fire to Palestinian houses and cars and destroying property.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said at least 21 Palestinians were injured. Two Israelis were also shot, apparently by Israeli police responding to the violence.
“If you had been there last night, you would have heard nothing but the screams of women and children,” said Mohammed, whose house in al-Funduk is just meters from the burned garden center.
“After all, we have nothing to protect ourselves, but they have everything to attack us.”
The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident and said Israeli civilians had incited the riots, set fire to property and caused damage. They also said they threw stones and attacked Israeli security forces.
This comes shortly after new US President Donald Trump announced he would lift sanctions on Israeli settlers accused of carrying out attacks in the West Bank.
The Biden administration’s withdrawal of sanctions targeting radical Israelis could signal a direction in which the new White House is expected to be more lenient on Jewish settlement expansion.
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich welcomed the US move. In a post to X, he praised Trump’s “unwavering and uncompromising support for the state of Israel.”
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials condemned the policy change. “Lifting sanctions against extremist settlers encourages them to commit more crimes against our people,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Luay Tayyam, mayor of al-Funduq, told the BBC: “It’s almost like a green light to the settlers to say, ‘Just go, do what you want, you won’t be persecuted.’”
“So they’re delighted with this news. And I think it was a big push for them last night. They’re encouraged by that.”
Tensions are rising over the mass release of Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank this week as part of a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas.
The attack in al-Funduk occurred in the same area where three Israelis were shot dead earlier this month. It was the latest in a series of attacks on settlers that have accelerated significantly since the start of the Gaza war.
By 2024, settlers had established 59 new outposts without approval from the Israeli government, according to Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement group. This was more than double the previous year and was also a record year for settlement establishment.
Since Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war, it has built about 160 settlements home to about 700,000 Jews. Israel, like the previous Trump administration, contests the agreement, but it is considered illegal under international law.
