“Over the past two decades, this year has witnessed some of the most severe violence in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Israel.”
On Tuesday, Israeli forces entered a refugee camp in Jenin, a city in the occupied West Bank, and killed at least six Palestinians, marking the latest in a series of deadly military raids conducted during the day.
According to Israeli sources, a Hamas operative who was responsible for the killing of two Israeli brothers last month was the intended target of the military operation. However, the operation resulted in the deaths of five other Palestinian men and injuries to more than 20 others, as reported by the Palestinian health ministry.
While Israeli forces surrounded a house in the camp, a significant number of people gathered at the entrances of the camp and set tires on fire to prevent the raiding force from leaving, which NBC News observed. As black smoke filled the city, Israeli helicopter gunships and drones flew overhead, occasionally visible through the smoke.
Israeli police confirmed that at least three of their troops were injured during the raid. Additionally, two Israeli drones crashed in Jenin during the fighting, though it is uncertain whether they were shot down or malfunctioned.
Following the incident, Mohammad Shtayyeh, the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, criticized the raid and referred to it as “a massacre”. He appealed to the Biden administration to take stronger actions to prevent Israeli incursions into Palestinian cities.
In contrast, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, praised the country’s troops involved in the operation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the operation, stating that their troops had acted with precision in the midst of the enemy’s stronghold. He also wished a speedy recovery to the wounded members of their forces and reiterated his stance that those who harm Israel will face the consequences.
In response to the raid, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh labeled it a “massacre” and called on the Biden administration to take further steps to prevent Israeli military incursions into Palestinian cities.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is expected to arrive in Israel on Wednesday to reinforce the Biden administration’s request for Israel to reduce its West Bank raids, while also urging the Palestinian Authority to take more action against militant groups.
The year 2023 has seen some of the worst violence in the West Bank, Israel, and Jerusalem in the past two decades. As per the Associated Press, more than 60 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops, with roughly half of them being militants. Additionally, Palestinian attackers have killed 14 Israelis and foreigners, according to the news agency’s records.”
The city of Jenin in the north of Israel witnessed one of the most violent battles between Israeli forces and armed Palestinian groups during the Second Intifada, a period of conflict lasting from 2000 to 2005.
Currently, the Jenin refugee camp is a space largely without governance. Palestinian security forces rarely enter the camp and have largely relinquished control of its densely populated alleys to armed groups.
According to the Israeli military, the objective of Tuesday’s raid was to apprehend Abdul Fattah Kharushah, a 49-year-old member of the Hamas militant group who was suspected of killing Hillel Yaniv, 21, and his younger brother Yigal, 19, in an ambush as they were driving through the town of Hawara on February 26.
Kharushah was located in a house within the Jenin camp and was killed when Israeli forces launched rockets at the building, the Israeli military stated.
After the killing of Hillel Yaniv and his brother Yigal, Israeli settlers launched a series of attacks on Palestinians in the Hawara area. At least one Palestinian was killed.
Shortly before the raid in Jenin, an Israeli settler wielding an axe attacked a Palestinian family in their car as they left a supermarket on Hawara’s main strip. The car was being driven by Omar Idrees, a 27-year-old nurse, with his wife, elderly parents, and 2-year-old daughter, Tia. Idrees recounted that he managed to reverse the car away from the attacker, but not before the assailant had sprayed a chemical irritant inside the car and hit his father in the head with a rock. The elderly man is still receiving medical treatment.
When asked if he believed that Israel would find and prosecute the attacker, Idrees laughed bitterly and expressed his doubts, stating that no government is protecting Palestinians.