Global Courant
Israel is about to wrap up its operation in Jenin, a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday after the fiercest fighting in the West Bank city in more than two decades, which left 10 Palestinians dead and thousands forced to flee. to flee.
Launched early Monday, the raid involving hundreds of commandos backed by drones prompted the internationally backed Palestinian government to suspend contacts with Israel and raised US and UN concerns over humanitarian conditions.
Israel says operation in Jenin’s tenement-style refugee camp, code-named “Home and Garden,” aims to uproot Iranian-backed Palestinian armed factions behind recent spate of gun and bomb attacks, as well as preparatory efforts to manufacture missiles.
A Palestinian injured in the clashes died overnight and another body was found in the morning, bringing the death toll to 10, with about 100 injured, 20 of them critical, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. .
The Islamic Jihad faction claimed four of the dead as fighters. Hamas, another Islamist faction, claimed a fifth. It was not immediately clear whether the other five fatalities – men aged 17 to 23 – were combatants or civilians.
Residents evacuated Jenin refugee camp on Monday during an Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank. The raid involved hundreds of commandos supported by drones. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP/Getty Images)
The operation “has almost completed its stated goals,” Israel’s national security adviser Tzachi Hanebi told Kan radio station after a relative lull in the overnight clashes.
The Israeli army said it had confirmation that nine Palestinians were killed by its troops. All were warriors, it said.
Offices and businesses in the occupied West Bank were expected to close on Tuesday in response to calls for a general strike to protest the operation, which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has described as a “war crime”.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had evacuated 500 families, or about 3,000 people, from the camp, which houses some 14,000 people in less than half a square kilometer and was one of the focal points of a wave of violence who occupied the West Bank for over a year.
LOOK | Israeli troops enter Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank:
The Israeli military operation in the West Bank raises concerns about an escalation of violence
Israel’s largest military operation in the occupied West Bank in two decades targeted Palestinian militants in Jenin. With no clear end in sight, the strikes have so far left at least eight dead and 50 injured and raised questions about the underlying politics.
Aid organizations called on Israel to guarantee humanitarian access. The United States said on Monday that it respects Israel’s right to defend itself, but that civilian casualties should be avoided. The United Nations said all military operations must respect international law.
Hundreds of fighters from Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Fatah live in the camp, which has been fortified with a series of obstacles and sentries to counter regular army attacks.
On Monday, Israeli bulldozers plowed the streets in the camp to destroy improvised explosive devices and cut off water and electricity supplies, though Israeli officials said they would work to restore services.
On Tuesday, the army said Border Police had found an underground shaft used to store explosives in the refugee camp and dismantled two observation posts.
