A new Israeli raid, carried out in broad daylight, left six dead in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin on Tuesday March 7. The army said it sought to reach the man who killed two settlers in Howwarah on February 26, prompting a punitive raid by settlers against the small town. These reprisals, carried out without the army intervening, never cease to question Israel on the impunity enjoyed by settlers in the West Bank.
The armed forces entered the camp behind at least one bulldozer and deployed an attack helicopter above the town. Their target, Abdel Fatah Hussein Khrouchah, affiliated with Hamas, barricaded himself in the house where he was hiding, on the outskirts of the camp, the main stronghold of the Palestinian armed resistance. The soldiers ended up firing anti-tank missiles at his hideout, while armed militants from Jenin harassed them. Five other Palestinians, aged 22 to 29, were killed, according to the health ministry. Two sons of Mr. Khrouchah were also arrested in Nablus: they are suspected of having helped him.
Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu hailed the action of the soldiers, saying they had “acted with surgical precision in the lair of the assassins”, a district with narrow streets, populated by 14,000 inhabitants. “Whoever hurts us will pay the price”, he warned. For a year, the army has been carrying out a massive crackdown in the West Bank, which has already killed at least 72 Palestinians in 2023. Fifteen Israelis have been killed in East Jerusalem and around settlements in the West Bank.
Over the past year, the army had managed to contain a nascent insurgency in two main areas: the Jenin camp and the old city of Nablus. But these neighborhoods have been fortified and better armed: the soldiers are now struggling to enter them without causing many deaths. Since January, they have multiplied the raids at peak times: ten dead for one, eleven for the other… Tolls never seen since the second intifada (2000-2005).
Arrests every night
Israel had dealt harsh blows to the armed groups in these two cities in the fall, managing to limit their audience, while their calls for resistance circulated through the territories, sparking demonstrations and strikes. These groups do not recognize themselves in the Palestinian political parties, but they identify with all the armed factions. Their members are affiliated to it without distinction. The Islamic Jihad, which does not pretend to power, enjoys great influence among them.
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