JERUSALEM — Israeli drones struck targets in a militant stronghold within the occupied West Financial institution early Monday and a whole bunch of troops have been deployed within the space, an incursion that resembled the wide-scale navy operations carried out in the course of the second Palestinian rebellion 20 years in the past. Palestinian well being officers mentioned a minimum of 4 Palestinians have been killed.
Troops remained contained in the Jenin refugee camp early Monday, pushing forward with the biggest operation within the space throughout greater than a yr of preventing. It got here at a time of rising home stress for a troublesome response to a collection of assaults on Israeli settlers – together with a capturing assault final week that killed 4 individuals.
Black smoke rose from the crowded streets of the camp because the navy pressed on. In keeping with Palestinian media experiences, the operation disrupted life for native residents, with electrical energy lower off in some elements and a navy bulldozer seen driving by way of slender streets – one other reminder of Israel’s incursions over the last rebellion. The Palestinians condemned the violence.
Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, a military spokesman, mentioned the operation started simply after 1 a.m. with an airstrike on a constructing utilized by militants for planning assaults. He mentioned the objective of the operation was to destroy and confiscate weapons.
“We’re not planning to carry floor,” he mentioned. “We’re performing towards particular targets.”
He mentioned {that a} brigade-size pressure – roughly 2,000 troopers – was collaborating within the operation, and that navy drones had carried out a collection of strikes to clear the way in which for the bottom forces. Though Israel has carried out remoted airstrikes within the West Financial institution in current weeks, Hecht mentioned Monday’s collection of strikes marked an escalation unseen since 2006 — the top of the Palestinian rebellion.
Whereas Israel described the assault as a pinpoint operation, movies on Palestinian social media confirmed a big tuft of white smoke billowing from a crowded space, with a mosque minaret close by. Different movies confirmed a wounded man was introduced right into a hospital on a stretcher, whereas one other was carried in by a bunch of males.
In keeping with the official Palestinian information company Wafa, the navy blocked roads throughout the camp, took over homes and buildings and arrange snipers on rooftops. The company additionally mentioned the navy lower off electrical energy in massive areas of the camp and that military bulldozers brought on injury to property.
The Palestinian Well being Ministry mentioned a minimum of three Palestinians have been killed and 13 injured early Monday, three of them critically. Hecht mentioned as many as seven militants have been believed useless.
In a separate incident, a 21-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli fireplace close to the West Financial institution metropolis of Ramallah, the ministry mentioned.
“Our Palestinian individuals is not going to kneel, is not going to give up, is not going to elevate the white flag, and can stay steadfast on their land within the face of this brutal aggression,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for the Palestinian president, mentioned in a press release.
The Jenin camp and an adjoining city of the identical title have been a flashpoint as Israeli-Palestinian violence escalated for the reason that spring of 2022. Jenin has lengthy been a bastion for armed battle towards Israel and was a serious friction level within the final Palestinian rebellion.
In 2002, days after a Palestinian suicide bombing throughout a big Passover gathering that killed 30 individuals, Israeli troops launched a large operation within the Jenin camp. For eight days and nights they fought militants avenue by avenue, utilizing armored bulldozers to destroy rows of houses, a lot of which had been booby-trapped.
Monday’s raid got here two weeks after one other violent confrontation in Jenin and after the navy mentioned a rocket was fired from the realm final week, which landed within the West Financial institution..
“There was a dynamic right here round Jenin for the final yr,” Hecht mentioned, defending Monday’s ways. “It’s been intensifying on a regular basis.”
However there additionally could have been political issues at play. Main members of Israel’s far-right authorities, which is dominated by West Financial institution settlers and their supporters, have been calling for a broader navy response to the continued violence within the space.
“Happy with our heroes on all fronts and this morning particularly of our troopers working in Jenin,” Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist who lately referred to as for Israel to kill “hundreds” of militants if essential, tweeted. “Praying for his or her success.”
Monday’s deaths deliver the loss of life toll of Palestinians killed this yr within the West Financial institution to 132, a part of greater than a yearlong spike in violence that has seen a number of the worst bloodshed in that space in practically 20 years.
The outburst of violence escalated final yr after a spate of Palestinian assaults prompted Israel to step up its raids within the West Financial institution.
Israel says the raids are supposed to beat again militants. The Palestinians say such violence is inevitable within the absence of any political course of with Israel and elevated West Financial institution settlement development and violence by extremist settlers. They see the intensifying Israeli navy presence within the space as an entrenchment of Israel’s 56-year open-ended occupation of the territory.
Israel says most of these killed have been militants, however stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and likewise individuals not concerned within the confrontations have additionally been killed.
Palestinian assaults towards Israelis for the reason that begin of this yr have killed 24 individuals.
Israel captured the West Financial institution, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip within the 1967 Mideast struggle. The Palestinians search these territories for his or her hoped-for unbiased state.