Twelve Palestinians were killed in an Israeli military raid on the Jenin refugee camp | In response, a Palestinian committed a hit-and-run attack in Tel Aviv that left seven injured,

2023-07-05 05:01:00

The Israeli army has carried out the largest military incursion in nearly 20 years into the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, which has so far left 12 Palestinians dead and more than 100 wounded as more than 3,000 residents fled.

The operation is entering its final stretch and could end in the next few hours due to little resistance from the Palestinian militias, while the refugee camp was totally destroyed, without electricity or water. “There is no point in the camp that we have not been to, including the center. Each unit will receive its targets today and inspect them. If we have friction with the terrorists, we will fight with them,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said. after troops carried out overnight raids, ambushes and destruction of explosives laboratories.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, issued a statement calling for an end to the cycle of violence. “The recent operation in the occupied West Bank and the car bombing in Tel Aviv worryingly underscore a familiar pattern of events: violence only begets more violence,” he said. Likewise, he warned that the use of bombardments in occupied areas can be equated with intentional homicides, considered a war crime within the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Palestinian response

In retaliation for the raid, a Palestinian intentionally ran over several pedestrians with a vehicle and then stabbed others. The assailant died after being shot by a civilian, reported the Israeli police and indicated that “seven people were injured in the incident: three of them in serious condition, two with reserved prognosis and two in mild condition, who were evacuated to hospitals of Bilinson and Ichilov”.

The Israeli security agency, Shin Bet, told local media that the attacker was identified as Abed al Wahab Jalaila, a 20-year-old resident of the West Bank city of As Samu, who did not have an entry permit to Israel. His actions were not claimed by any faction, but hailed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad as a “heroic reaction to the crimes of the occupation in Jenin.”

During a visit to the Salem military checkpoint – near the Jenin refugee camp – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack by the Palestinian youth and warned: “Anyone who thinks this will dissuade us from continuing our fight against terrorism is wrong. You are simply not familiar with the spirit of the State of Israel, our government, our citizens and our soldiers.”

the arab league

Meanwhile, the Arab League held an emergency meeting to condemn the Israeli army’s operation and expressed its support for the Palestinians’ right to self-defense. “The League affirms the centrality of the Palestinian cause for the entire Arab nation, and supports the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, such as the right to self-defense against Israeli aggression that targets their lives and sacred property,” he said. the pan-Arab body in a statement at the end of the meeting at its headquarters in Cairo.

Given these facts, the body adopted a series of measures, such as demanding that the international community pressure Israel” to allow an investigative committee to access Palestinian territory to carry out investigations into “violations against the Palestinians.” It also agreed intensify the level of contact with the UN Security Council, “with the aim of implementing international resolutions related to the cessation of all forms of Israeli aggression against the Palestinians.”

The Arab League, whose members are staunch supporters of the Palestinian cause, routinely holds emergency meetings whenever there is a spike in tension in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, though the steps it usually takes do not have major implications. The body also did not take action when several of its members, such as the United Arab Emirates or Bahrain, established relations with Israel in 2020, despite the reluctance of their populations and other countries.

the center of the battle

Created in 1953, the Jenin refugee camp has been a stronghold of the Palestinian armed struggle since the British Mandate between 1922 and 1948 and the scene of the deadliest episode of the Second Intifada between 2000 and 2005. This place is home to a population estimated at more than 20,000 people in an area that does not reach half a square kilometer, according to figures from UNRWA, the United Nations agency for the Palestinian refugee population in the Middle East.

Residents of the camp suffer from some of the highest rates of unemployment and poverty in the West Bank, which have worsened since Israel revoked many work permits among its inhabitants and tight security checks stemmed the flow of Arabs and Israelis to the area. to buy cheaper agricultural products.

In the last year, it has become the main target of military raids by the Israeli Army, which enters the camp to arrest what they consider “terrorist suspects”, who are young militiamen who joined the Jenin Brigade, which brings together to the militias of all the Palestinian factions, increasingly armed and militarily prepared. That is why Israel launched the largest large-scale military operation in two decades, by land and air, in the camp early Monday morning.