Israel’s defence minister said on Wednesday forces were applying lessons learned in Gaza as a major operation continued in Jenin, which the military said was aimed at countering Iranian-backed militant groups in the volatile West Bank city.
A military spokesperson declined to give details but said the operation was “relatively similar” to but in a smaller area than one last August, in which hundreds of Israeli troops backed by drones and helicopters raided Jenin and other flashpoint cities in the occupied West Bank.
It was the third major incursion by the Israeli army in less than two years into Jenin, a longtime major stronghold of militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which said its forces were fighting Israeli troops.
Israeli army vehicles are seen during a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin.Credit: AP
Residents reported constant gunfire and explosions and Palestinian health services reported at least four wounded, after 10 people were killed a day earlier.
Israeli military spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said the militants’ increasing use of roadside bombs and other improvised explosive devices were a particular focus of the operation, which included armoured bulldozers to tear up roads in the refugee camp adjacent to the city.
As the operation continued, many Palestinians left their homes in the camp, a crowded township for descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 war around Israel’s creation.
“Thank God, we were at home, we went out and asked an ambulance to take us out,” said a woman who gave her name as Um Mohammad. Before the raid, which came two weeks after a shooting attack blamed by Israel on gunmen from Jenin, roadblocks and checkpoints had been thrown up across the West Bank in an effort to slow down movement across the territory.
An Israeli drone flies above the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin.Credit: AP
As the raid began, Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces pulled out after having conducted a weeks-long operation to try to reassert control over the refugee camp, dominated by Palestinian factions that are hostile to the PA, which exercises limited governance in parts of the West Bank. The operation came just two days after the launch of a ceasefire deal in Gaza and exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, with Israeli troops pulling back from their positions in many areas of the enclave.
