Ten dead: Israel continues military operation in the West Bank

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Several weapons and military equipment were seized early in the morning in the Palestinian city of Jenin, the army said. In addition, according to the information, an underground shaft for storing explosives and “buildings of terrorist organizations” were destroyed.

Meanwhile, the death toll has risen to ten since the start of the military operation. The body of a Palestinian with gunshot wounds was found Tuesday night, the health ministry in Ramallah said. In addition, 20 of the 100 injured are in critical condition.

On Monday evening, Israel began one of the largest military operations in the West Bank in decades. After several airstrikes, more than a thousand soldiers entered the city of Jenin, which is actually under the control of the Palestinian Authority. In the city, less than 80 kilometers from Jerusalem as the crow flies, the soldiers carried out hours-long firefights with armed residents.

According to the army, the operation is aimed at terrorist infrastructure. Jenin and the refugee camp there with about 17,000 inhabitants are considered a stronghold of militant Palestinians. The various groups are mainly funded by Iran, an archenemy of the State of Israel. In recent years, residents of the city have carried out several attacks on Israelis.

According to Palestinian reports, thousands of people were evacuated overnight from the refugee camp and taken to nearby emergency shelters. It was initially unclear whether this was at the behest of the military. According to Israeli media reports, Israeli security officials denied that an evacuation order had been issued.

“In recent months, Jenin has become a haven for terrorism, from which insidious attacks have been carried out against Israeli men, women and children,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday night.

“Israeli soldiers are doing everything they can to avoid killing civilians, while Israel is doing everything it can to exercise its right of self-defense.” The goal is to get rid of all those “who want to destroy our country”. The military offensive will last as long as it takes “to complete the mission”.

After a meeting of its leaders, the Palestinian Authority confirmed that there would be no further cooperation with Israel on security issues. The autonomy authority had made similar announcements on previous occasions, but they were not actually implemented.

In the past, cooperation has included exchanging intelligence to prevent terrorist attacks and coordinating larger operations in areas solely controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

The security situation in Israel and in the West Bank, home to about three million people, has long been tense and violence has recently increased. More than two dozen people have been killed in attacks by Palestinians since the beginning of the year. During the same period, about 150 Palestinians were killed in violent confrontations, Israeli military operations or after their own attacks.

Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War. Today, more than 600,000 Israeli settlers live in more than 200 settlements. The Palestinians claim the areas as part of their own state. However, a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict that has been going on for decades seems far away. Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have been dead since 2014.

(SDA)

Source: Blick