Several people have been killed as the Israeli military raided the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian health services said at least 10 Palestinians were killed and 35 wounded in the raid, which was launched in the early hours of Tuesday, continued well into the night and is expected to last for days.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the operation, dubbed “Iron Wall,” was intended to “eradicate terrorism” in the area.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said its first responders treated seven people injured by live ammunition, adding that Israeli forces were hindering access to the area.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “maximum restraint” from security forces and said that he “remains deeply concerned”.
Israeli NGO B’Tselem accused the Israeli government of using the Gaza ceasefire as “an excuse and opportunity to ratchet up the oppression of West Bank Palestinians”.
“This is not what a ceasefire looks like,” it said.
Jenin governor Kamal Abu al-Rub told AFP the operation was “an invasion of the (refugee) camp”.
“It came quickly, Apache helicopters in the sky and Israeli military vehicles everywhere,” he added.
A spokesman for the Palestinian security forces said in a statement that Israeli forces had “opened fire on civilians and security forces, resulting in injuries to several civilians and a number of security personnel, one of whom is in critical condition”.
Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said that attacking Palestinians in the West Bank was always likely after hostilities in Gaza halted.
The raid also served to deflect public attention after the resignations of Israeli military commanders for their admitted failure to protect Israel from the Hamas attack in October 2023, he suggested.
“I think the Netanyahu government is deflecting. Where does it deflect? In the West Bank. In Jenin. By various closures and by a huge attack on Jenin that probably will go on for days, weeks – perhaps more.”
In recent months, raids have increased in frequency and intensity in Jenin.
Leave a comment