Five Palestinians killed and 91 wounded in clashes with Israeli soldiers in Jenin

Five Palestinians died this Monday during armed clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Jenin, while another 91 Palestinians and seven Israeli soldiers were injured, according to official sources.

Ministry of Health Palestinian National Authority (PNA) announced the death of the fifth victim, in the clashes caused this Monday by the attack of the Israeli army on Jenin, a stronghold of armed Palestinian militias in the north of the occupied West Bank.

Of the 91 wounded Palestinians, 23 They were in serious condition. The Palestinian ministry also noted that a child under the age of 15 was among the dead, and that the injured included a journalist and “a girl with a critical head injury.”

On the Israeli side, according to a military spokesman, seven were wounded, including two soldiers and five policemen. Although raids in the West Bank have been carried out almost daily for more than a year, the one on Monday in Jenin was particularly violent and prolonged, with an exchange of fire for as long as nine hours.

It is the first time in a long time that so many injuries were recorded, including from the Israeli side, and the army was engaged helicopters to open fire from the air on militantssomething that hasn’t happened since the Second Intifada (2000-05), when Israel used them in special circumstances.

The office of PNA President Mahmoud Abbas described the attack as a “massacre” and assured that Israel was “trying to detonate the area and drag it towards violence”.

“International silence is what encourages the occupation government [israelí] to continue their crimes and wage a total war against our Palestinian people,” added the Presidency, which specifically called on the United States government to intervene.

The Palestinian government has called an emergency meeting of its cabinet where “unpublished decisions” are expected.

Israel’s finance minister, the far-right Bezalel Smotrich, has called for a major military campaign in the northern West Bank to wipe out Palestinian militias in the area, which have multiplied and strengthened in the past year.

“The time has come to send air force and tanks to protect the lives of our fighters”Smotrich said during an emergency meeting of the Government’s security cabinet, according to statements carried by the Hebrew press.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant indicated that the military incursion into Jenin was aimed at “stopping the terrorists” and warned that Israel would use “all the tools” at its disposal to reach the terrorists wherever they are, whether “in Jenin, in Nablus or in Gaza ».

The occupied West Bank is experiencing its highest peak of violence since the Second Intifada (2000-2005), with 130 Palestinians killed so far this year, many of them militants, but also civilians – including 22 minors -, most of them in armed clashes with Israeli troops. , which intensified their attacks in that area, especially in the area of ​​Nablus and Jenin.

In parallel, the area has seen the proliferation of new Palestinian armed groups, the number of their attacks on Israelis, as well as attacks by settlers. On the Israeli side, 21 people were killed in these incidents this year, most of them immigrants, and three minors.