At least 12 dead in Israeli attack on West Bank, Palestinians say
As Israeli forces withdrew after a two-and-a-half-day raid on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Thursday that at least 12 people had been killed and 34 others injured in the raid.
Israeli raids on the West Bank have become much more frequent since the war with Hamas began in Gaza more than two months ago, involving dozens at the time, and has been unusually long and deadly. Jenin and its refugee camp, strongholds of Palestinian armed resistance, have been common targets.
The Israeli army said on Thursday it had punished three soldiers involved in filming themselves as one or more of them sang a Jewish prayer at a mosque in Jenin. Videos of the incident, a potentially incendiary show of disrespect, circulated widely online.
Residents reported seeing Israeli military vehicles leaving Jenin on Thursday afternoon.
The army said in a statement that it had completed “a 60-hour comprehensive operation in the Jenin refugee camp and in the city of Jenin.” It reported that it had “detained 14 wanted suspects, including three linked to Hamas,” as well as some 60 others, and said it had “eliminated ten terrorists.”
The Palestinian Prisoners Club, a non-governmental rights organization, estimates the number of Palestinians arrested in the raid at more than 100.
Seven Israeli soldiers were slightly injured during the operation, which the army said uncovered “more than ten underground facilities, dozens of guns” and seven explosives laboratories. The attack included an Israeli drone strike on Tuesday that the military said killed several people who fired on Israeli forces.
While Israel and Hamas are at war in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, conflict has also flared in the occupied West Bank, where Hamas has no control but has strong support. This is evident from a recent opinion poll by Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that support for Hamas in the West Bank was greater than before the war.
The Israeli military describes its raids on the West Bank as part of its counter-terrorism efforts against Hamas. Jenin residents and local leaders say they are aiming to displace residents and make conditions unlivable.
“The raids have become more frequent and also more aggressive and violent,” said Mohammad Al Masri, member of the local committee running the refugee camp in Jenin, adding: “They come in and no longer distinguish between fighters and civilians. ”
At least 78 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military strikes in Jenin since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah, making this the deadliest period there in recent years.
At least 286 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli forces and settlers across the West Bank since October 7, according to the ministry.
The videos of Israeli soldiers in the mosque undermine Israel’s efforts, through videos and social media posts, to promote its military’s adherence to a moral code that includes cultural respect.
In one video, a narrator is heard saying, “Friends, this is the mosque in Jenin.” The camera focuses on a soldier, crouched on the ground with a microphone, singing the prayer “Shema Yisrael,” a centerpiece of the daily morning and evening prayers, considered by some to be the most important prayer in Judaism. In another, a soldier standing on a balcony sings the same prayer.
This is what the Israeli army writes it was reported on social media that the soldiers had been “removed from operational activities.” It added: “The behavior of the soldiers in the videos is serious and completely contrary to the values of the IDF.”
Still, some in Israel expressed sympathy for the soldiers involved. “Every soldier, even if he has made an error of judgment, deserves support,” said Yuli Edelstein, chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in the Israeli parliament. Posting on Facebook.
The Jenin refugee camp is a built-up, impoverished neighborhood that is home to Palestinians forcibly displaced during the wars surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948, as well as their descendants. Israeli raids there usually take place at night and involve bulldozers, which have destroyed much of the area’s infrastructure.
“It is a collective punishment,” said Mohammad Sabaghi, head of the committee running the camp. “There is nothing that hasn’t been damaged or destroyed. Water, electricity, telephone lines, sewerage – everything.”
Palestinian Authority Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila said in a statement on Thursday that the situation in Jenin’s hospitals was “very difficult, in light of the escalating aggression.” During the raid, she said, Israeli forces prevented the arrival of injured people, searched and detained medical workers, and attacked ambulances.
The Israeli military did not respond to requests for comment on these allegations.
The Medical Charity This is reported by Doctors Without Borders that a father in Jenin had carried his 13-year-old son on foot to a hospital on Wednesday “because Israeli armored cars were blocking the ambulances,” adding that the boy was pronounced dead on arrival.
Wisam Baker, the director of Jenin Hospital, the closest medical center to the refugee camp, said in an interview that Israeli forces had set up checkpoints outside the hospital during some raids, hampering efforts to provide medical care to people who were injured were hampered during the raids.
“It’s difficult for our medical teams to get out and in, and it’s difficult for patients to get into the hospital because it’s dangerous,” he said.
Hiba Yazbek And Aaron Bokserman reported from Jerusalem, and Efrat Livni from Washington. Christina Goudbaum reporting contributed.