Nada al-Taher
The National / July 4, 2023
Ten Palestinians killed and more than 100 injured as attack enters second day.
Israel’s actions in Jenin are not a one-off but part of a sequence of operations, army commander Yehuda Fuchs says.
His comments come a day after intense fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank city and its adjacent refugee camp.
The raid in Jenin “does not stand on its own” and will be part of a “sequence” of activities, Fuchs said, local outlet Ynet reported.
Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said there are an estimated 300 gunmen opposing Israeli forces. Israel had arrested 120 people, he said.
On Tuesday morning, the second day of the attack, the death toll stood at ten Palestinians, with more than 100 injured, 20 of them critically.
The Jenin Brigades armed group said there were renewed confrontations in Al-Zahra neighbourhood. The group had targeted Israeli forces with improvised explosive devices, it added.
On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named the raid “Operation Home and Garden”, speaking at a US Embassy Fourth of July ceremony. It will go on “as necessary”, he said.
Israel claims it seized a cache of weapons belonging to the various armed groups in Jenin, as residents began to flee their homes.
Deputy governor of Jenin Kamal Abu al-Roub told AFP that about 3,000 people had evacuated their homes since the beginning of the raid on Monday.
“The strikes are terrifying. We were informed to leave by the paramedics,” an elderly woman told local outlet Quds Feed.
“We didn’t take anything. We just got dressed and left.”
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s representative said he was “deeply concerned about the developments in Jenin”.
Farhan Haq said Guterres “affirms that all military operations must be conducted with full respect for international humanitarian law”.
“Israel is able to carry out security operations, it has to do so in such a way that avoids civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure,” he said, responding to a question about Israel’s right to defend itself.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he was suspending security co-ordination with Israel.
Israel had earlier said that it had coordinated with Palestinian intelligence on the operation.
Nada al-Taher is a senior foreign reporter at The National
