Middle East: Clash between Israel and Gaza, Israeli army pulls out of Jenin

The Israeli military launched airstrikes in Gaza on Wednesday in response to rocket fire from the Strip on Wednesday as its troops began withdrawing from Jenin in the West Bank after two days of massive operations in the region.

Twelve Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed in an Israeli attack on the Jenin refugee camp early Monday morning. Israel launched its biggest military operation in the West Bank in years on Monday. It mobilized hundreds of soldiers, as well as military drones and bulldozers clearing the streets.

Five rockets intercepted

Israeli troops began withdrawing from Jenin on Tuesday evening, a military spokesman told AFP. “Israeli troops have begun withdrawing from Jenin,” the spokesman said, without elaborating. Israeli television showed images of military vehicles leaving the area and entering Israeli territory.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it had intercepted five rockets fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip. No Palestinian claims were immediately reported. Israel is “retaliating” to the shots by striking the Palestinian stronghold of Gaza, indicating that a military base of the Islamist movement Hamas in the north was hit without causing any injuries.

On Tuesday, a car bomb in Tel Aviv wounded seven people, an attack hailed by Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, as “the first response to the crimes against our people in the Jenin camp.” At the scene of the attack, police chief Yaakov Shabtai said the “terrorist” was a West Bank resident who was shot dead by a passerby.

Biggest activity on the West Bank in years

In Jenin, which was swarmed by drones, shops were closed on Tuesday, an AFP reporter said, on the second day of an operation that has drawn hundreds of Israeli soldiers into the city and a nearby refugee camp.

Almost deserted streets are strewn with debris and stones, bitumen has been burned, and the road is blackened around improvised barricades. “The refugee camp is facing a catastrophic situation,” Jenin Mayor Nidal Abu Saleh told AFP, referring to electricity and water cuts there. Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila told a press conference Tuesday evening that the Israeli move was “an aggression that violates international law.”

“Open War”

The military announced that it struck several targets, including a “joint operations center” and six “explosive manufacturing workshops” of the local armed group, the Jenin Brigade. “We will act as long as necessary to eliminate terrorism,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday during a visit to a military base near Jenin. “We will not allow Jenin to become a haven for terrorism again,” he added.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 12 Palestinians were killed and 100 wounded during the operation, 20 of them critically. The city of Jenin, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups, and a refugee camp have been repeatedly targeted by Israeli operations. The northern West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, has seen recent attacks on Israelis and anti-Palestinian violence by Jewish settlers.

“Worst attack in five years”

The fighting led to the evacuation Monday evening of “about 3,000” residents of the camp, which is home to about 18,000 Palestinians, according to Jenin’s deputy governor, Kamal Abu al-Roub. “We received a lot of injuries,” including “gunfire,” said Kasim Benikader, a 35-year-old nurse at Jenin Hospital: “This is the worst test in five years.”

According to a doctor at Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin, the wounded died because they were not treated in time. “Some died, others saw their condition worsen,” Dr. Tawfiq al-Shobaki testified on Tuesday, adding that destruction by Israeli forces around the camp had made it very difficult for vehicles to circulate.

At least 190 Palestinians and 25 Israelis were killed in 2023

“All options are on the table to attack the enemy,” Palestinian Islamic Jihad warned. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh condemned the “brutal” Israeli move. The Arab League called an emergency meeting on Tuesday, and Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, Arab states with diplomatic ties to Israel, condemned the move.

UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Dürk on Tuesday condemned the violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank – which “must stop”. Israel has the “right to defend itself” but must respect “the proportionality of international law,” the German foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called on the Israeli military to “show restraint in its actions and avoid escalation by all parties”. Violence related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has killed at least 190 Palestinians, 26 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian since the beginning of the year, according to an AFP count established from official sources.

(AFP)