MEE-Staff
Middle East Eye / September 30, 2021
Jenin town and its environs have become a source of worry for Israel as Palestinian militants clashed with its forces for the second time in a week.
Three Palestinians were killed on Thursday by Israeli fire in occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip, according to Israeli authorities.
Israa Khozaimieh, a 30-year-old Palestinian woman from Qabatiya village in the northern West Bank, was shot by Israeli military police at the Chain Gate of al-Aqsa compound.
Israeli police said that Khozaimieh had attempted to stab officers stationed outside the compound when she was stopped for a check. However, no casualties among the Israeli police were reported.
In the early hours of Thursday, Israeli forces exchanged gunfire with an Islamic Jihad armed member, Alaa Naser Shafiq Zayoud, in Burqin town, north of the West Bank.
Zayoud, a 22-year-old from the nearby village of Silat al-Harithiya, opened fire at the Israeli forces while they were withdrawing from Burqin, following a night raid and search of the house of Palestinian prisoner Mohammed Zareini in the village.
Two Palestinians were injured during the Israeli night raid, and were taken to Ibn Sina Specialized Hospital in Jenin town. The Israeli army did not report injuries among its ranks.
A third Palestinian, 41-year-old Mohammed Abdulkarim Ammar, was killed by Israeli fire in the besieged Gaza Strip while catching birds in the eastern area of the Bureij refugee camp, which is close to the border fence with Israel.
Resistance building up
On Sunday, Israeli forces killed five Palestinians in two different areas in the West Bank during a fire exchange in Burqin and Beit Anan, a village in Jerusalem.
The Islamic Jihad group announced that one of its members, Osama Yaser Soboh, was killed in Burqin on Sunday, while Hamas said three of its armed wing members were “martyred” in Beit Anan. Two Israeli soldiers were injured during the armed clashes.
Sari Orabi, a Palestinian political analyst, told Middle East Eye that a “resistance condition” is building up in Jenin town and its villages.
“It seems that the Israeli army is not capable of terminating resistance once and for all or in a quick operation.
“We are witnessing daily armed clashes between armed Palestinians and the Israeli army. The resistance is widespread, and is not going to end with assassinations or arrests,” Orabi told MEE.
He added that Jenin and its environs are becoming “a source of worry for Israel” as its flame could spread to Jenin town and other Palestinian cities and villages in the West Bank.
“Israel, as a predominantly security entity, is working hard to besiege this resistance condition to finish it,” he added.
During September, Israel has arrested 54 Palestinians from Jenin, including two women. Israel has also led a mass arrest campaign and blocked Palestinian from entering and exiting Jenin following the successful jailbreak of six Palestinian prisoners from Gilboa on 6 September.
All of the six prisoners, who were later re-arrested by Israel after going on the run and are facing trial, are from Jenin environs. Almost 16 of their relatives have been arrested, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
Israel is still holding the bodies of four Palestinians who it killed on Sunday, including Yousef Soboh, a 16-year-old who was shot several times and rammed by an Israeli military vehicle.
