The armed forces had “begun to withdraw,” an army spokesman told the AFP news agency on Tuesday evening, without providing any further information. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, two more Palestinians were killed in the Israeli operation on Tuesday, increasing the death toll to at least twelve.
The military action in Jenin, a stronghold of radical Palestinian groups, was ordered on Monday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Israeli government coalition. The aim is to dismantle the “terrorist network”, said Netanyahu.
Palestine: Army operations for five years
For some time now, the north of the West Bank has repeatedly been the scene of attacks on Israelis, but also of violence by radical Jewish settlers against Palestinians. According to Palestinian sources, this was the most massive military operation in five years.
According to its own statements, the army made six facilities for the production of explosives and three operations centers unusable in Jenin. In addition, the emergency services had confiscated a large number of weapons.
Around 3,000 of the 18,000 residents of the refugee camp fled the fighting on Monday evening. According to the Deputy Governor of Jenin, Kamal Abu al-Rub, they are to be housed in schools and other emergency shelters for the time being.
Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians are heating up
On Tuesday, a man from the West Bank, according to Israeli police, injured seven people in an assassination attempt with a car and then with a stabbing weapon in Tel Aviv before an armed passerby shot him dead.
Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians had already intensified at the beginning of last year. However, under Netanyahu and his coalition partners, some of whom are right-wing extremists, violence has increased again. At least 188 militant and civilian Palestinians, 25 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian have been killed since the beginning of the year alone, according to an AFP tally based on official sources.
Israeli soldier killed in action in Jenin, West Bank
An Israeli soldier has been shot dead in the Palestinian West Bank city of Jenin. The sergeant was killed by shots on Wednesday evening, the army said during the night. On the Israeli side, he is the first casualty since the military offensive began on Monday.
