Ali Sawafta
Reuters / June 19, 2023
JENIN, West Bank – Israeli commandoes backed by helicopter gunships killed five Palestinians including a teenager and wounded as many as 66 others as a raid in the West Bank led to an hours-long gun battle with armed fighters, the military and health officials said.
Seven Israeli personnel were wounded after troops came under fire during an operation in the flashpoint town of Jenin to arrest two Palestinians suspected in attacks, the military said. At least two of the Palestinians killed in the fighting belonged to the armed Islamic Jihad group.
With U.S.-sponsored peacemaking stalled for almost a decade, Jenin and other areas of the northern West Bank have been a focus of months of stepped-up sweeps by Israel amid a spate of Palestinian street rampages in its cities.
As troops faced heavy fire and a rain of explosive devices from gunmen in the town, the army was forced to mount an extraction mission to pull out a number of its vehicles blocked in the fighting.
“So that’s why you saw also our forces in a very problematic area and we had to bring in a helicopter,” an army spokesman told reporters.
Video obtained by Reuters showed an explosion enveloping an armoured troop transport as shots ring out. Other clips showed a military helicopter launching a missile and releasing flares.
A military spokesperson said an Apache helicopter fired on an open area in order to drive back gunmen as casualties were extricated from the troop transport.
“We’re aware Palestinians are hit, quite a big number. We’ll know more about it in the next few hours,” the spokesman said. “It will take a few hours. It’s going to be pretty harsh.”
There was no immediate confirmation the helicopter also released flares – an apparent precaution against launches of shoulder-fired missiles at it.
An official from the Fatah party said fighters from the nearby cities of Nablus and Tulkarem had arrived in Jenin to support the local fighters.
“We tell this occupation that all their operations are a failure, our people will win, and the dialogue between us will only be the battlefield,” Atta Abu Rmeileh said.
No compromises
The unusual use of helicopter gunships in the operation underlined the severity of the fighting in Jenin, where armed militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad have long had a strong presence in the adjoining refugee camp.
An Islamic Jihad official said the use of aircraft “will push our fighters to use tools that will surprise the enemy.”
However, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would employ whatever means it thought necessary.
“There are no compromises in the fight against terrorism, we will continue to take an offensive approach. We will use all the means at our disposal,” he said on Twitter.
The Palestinian health ministry said the dead included a 15-year-old. Islamic Jihad claimed two of them as members. Another 66 Palestinians were wounded, the ministry said.
Another such group, Hamas, said its fighters also took part in the clashes. At least one Palestinian was detained during Monday’s raid, witnesses in Jenin said.
Writing by Dan Williams and Nidal al-Mughrabi; editing by Gareth Jones, Ed Osmond and Hugh Lawson
