2023-07-03 20:48:00
The Israeli army killed eight Palestinians on Monday (3) in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, during a “widespread anti-terrorist operation” that included drone strikes.
Israeli forces have said they seek to attack a “terrorist infrastructure” and a “joint operations centre” which they say serves as a command point for the “Jenin Brigade”, a local militant group.
In another communiqué published this Monday at 10:20 am local time (4:20 am in Brasilia time), the Army said that shooting continued at the Palestinian refugee camp near the city of Jenin, in the north of the West Bank, territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
Israeli forces attacked a weapons production and explosive ordnance storage facility, the army said.
Eight Palestinians died, and 50 were injured, ten of them seriously, in the Israeli operation, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the Israeli army of having launched “an open war against the people in Jenin”.
In another incident, “a man was killed by gunfire from the occupation [israelense] at the north entrance of Al Bireh, near Ramallah,” he added.
According to a statement from the Israeli forces, a “soldier was slightly injured by shrapnel from an Army grenade. [israelense] in the operation” in Jenin.
– ‘By surprise’ –
“We are attacking this center of terrorism [em Jenin] with great force,” Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told the press in Jerusalem.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared that a “proactive strategy” against terrorism was being applied.
“People knew we were likely to come in, but the air strike method took them by surprise,” said Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht, an Israeli army spokesman.
According to the spokesperson, the Army has “specific targets”. “The aerial platforms were UAVs [veculos areos no tripulados]”, he highlighted.
The city of Jenin and the adjacent refugee camp are areas of frequent clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.
The Israeli army regularly conducts raids on the sector, which is theoretically under the command of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
– ‘Worst Incursion in Five Years’ –
“There are bombings and land invasions,” said AFP Mahmud al-Saadi, director of the Palestinian Red Crescent, in Jenin.
“Several homes and establishments were bombed […]. There’s smoke coming out everywhere,” she added.
One town resident, Badr Shagul, said he had seen “bulldozers destroying houses in the countryside”. The situation is “catastrophic”, added, in turn, Mahmud Hawashin.
At the city hospital, an AFP journalist saw bodies in the morgue and family members waiting for the fighting to end so they could carry out funerals.
“We received many injuries from explosives […]also a lot of gunshot wounds”, said Qasem Benighade, a 35-year-old nurse. “the worst attack in five years”, he stressed.
Ismael Haniyeh, leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, called the Israeli attack “brutal”. Palestinian Islamic Jihad stated that “all options are open to attack the enemy [Israel] in response to his aggression in Jenin”.
Jordan denounced “the recent aggression against the city of Jenin” and made “an urgent appeal to the international community to […] end Israeli attacks on occupied Palestinian territories”.
The Arab League, in turn, called an emergency meeting for this Tuesday.
Seven people died in June in an army raid on the Jenin refugee camp.
During the attack, Israeli forces also fired missiles from a helicopter, which had not happened in the West Bank since 2002, during the second Palestinian intifada.
Violence increased last month and, since the beginning of the year, at least 185 Palestinians, 25 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian have died, according to an AFP report based on information released by official sources.
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