Five Palestinians were killed on Sunday July 2 and Monday July 3 in a “vast anti-terrorist operation” of the Israeli army, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israeli forces aim at “targets” in the city and region of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank: a “terrorist infrastructure” and one “Joint Operations Center” which serves, according to the Israeli forces, as a command center for the “Jenin Brigade”a local activist group.
In addition to the five dead, 27 people were injured – seven of them seriously – during this Israeli army operation, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement. Moreover, “a man was killed by the bullets of the occupation [israélienne] at the northern entrance of Al-Bireh, near Ramallah”he added.
According to the army, a “soldier was slightly injured by shrapnel from army grenade [israélienne] during the operation” from Jenin and was taken to hospital. In a statement, the Israeli army says the operation is continuing on Monday in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin, in the northern West Bank, territory occupied by Israel since 1967. “The city of Jenin and the Jenin camp are currently a combat zone”she clarified.
At least 181 Palestinians and 25 Israelis killed
“People knew we were probably going to get in, but the airstrike method, our target being right in the heart of the camp, took them by surprise”Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told reporters. “We are acting against specific suspects”he added, assuring that the army, which uses drones, is doing its best to spare the civilian population. “There is aerial bombardment and a ground invasion”told Agence France-Presse (AFP) the director of the Palestinian Red Crescent in Jenin, Mahmoud Al-Saadi. “Several houses and sites were bombed (…). Smoke rises everywhere. »
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement said in a statement that “all options are on the table to strike the enemy [Israël] in response to his aggression in Jenin”. Jordan denounced “the recent attack on the city of Jenin”throwing a “urgent appeal to the international community to (…) put an end to Israeli attacks in the occupied Palestinian territories”according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The city of Jenin, located in the northern West Bank, and the adjacent refugee camp are regularly the scene of clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians. The Israeli army regularly carries out raids in the region, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups, which is theoretically under the control of the Palestinian Authority, chaired by Mahmoud Abbas.
In June, seven people were killed, including two 15-year-olds, in an Israeli army raid on a refugee camp in Jenin. During this raid, the army also fired missiles from a helicopter, which had not happened in the West Bank since 2002, during the second Palestinian intifada, according to a Palestinian official. The violence has increased in recent months, and since the beginning of the year at least 181 Palestinians, 25 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed, according to an AFP count established from official sources.