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| Jenin: Israeli military launches major operation in West Bank city | Jenin: Israeli military launches major operation in West Bank city |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Watch: Video shows smoke rising over Jenin and Israeli military vehicles on the streets | Watch: Video shows smoke rising over Jenin and Israeli military vehicles on the streets |
| Watch: Video shows smoke rising over Jenin and Israeli military vehicles on the streets | Watch: Video shows smoke rising over Jenin and Israeli military vehicles on the streets |
| There have been Israeli drone strikes and gun battles between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in Jenin, after Israel launched a major military operation in the occupied West Bank. | There have been Israeli drone strikes and gun battles between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in Jenin, after Israel launched a major military operation in the occupied West Bank. |
| Eight Palestinians have been killed and 50 injured, health officials say. | |
| Israel said it had "dealt a heavy blow to terrorist organisations in Jenin". Palestinians accused it of a war crime. | |
| Jenin has seen many Israeli raids in the past year and residents have been linked to multiple attacks on Israelis. | |
| The military said there was no specific timeline for ending the operation, but security sources told Israeli media that it might last several days. | |
| In 2002, during the second Palestinian intifada, Israeli forces launched a full-scale incursion in Jenin. At least 52 Palestinian militants and civilians and 23 Israeli soldiers were killed during 10 days of intense fighting. | |
| The current Israeli military operation, which appears to be one of the most extensive in the West Bank in years, began in the early hours of Monday. | |
| A drone was used to attack an apartment in the centre of Jenin's refugee camp, where some 14,000 people live in less than half a square kilometre. | |
| The military said the apartment was being used as a "joint operational command centre" for the camp and the Jenin Brigades - a unit made up of different Palestinian militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad. | The military said the apartment was being used as a "joint operational command centre" for the camp and the Jenin Brigades - a unit made up of different Palestinian militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad. |
| Drones were used for further air strikes and thousands of Israeli troops were deployed in what a military spokesman described as an "counter-terrorism operation" focused on seizing weapons and preventing Jenin from acting as a "safe haven" for Palestinian fighters. | |
| Amid intense gun battles between the troops and Palestinian militants, the Jenin Brigades said: "We will fight the occupation [Israeli] forces until the last breath and bullet, and we work together and unified from all factions and military formations." | |
| Dark smoke was seen rising over Jenin as Israeli troops operated inside the city | |
| Ahmed Zaki, a resident of the camp, told the BBC that "columns of Israeli army vehicles penetrated the outskirts of the camp from several streets". | Ahmed Zaki, a resident of the camp, told the BBC that "columns of Israeli army vehicles penetrated the outskirts of the camp from several streets". |
| Palestinian ambulance driver Khaled Alahmad said: "What is going on in the refugee camp is real war." | Palestinian ambulance driver Khaled Alahmad said: "What is going on in the refugee camp is real war." |
| "There were strikes from the sky targeting the camp, every time we drive in around five to seven ambulances and we come back full with injured people," he told Reuters news agency. | "There were strikes from the sky targeting the camp, every time we drive in around five to seven ambulances and we come back full with injured people," he told Reuters news agency. |
| The main route heading north into Jenin would usually be teeming with traffic, but it is now extremely quiet. Along the road, we have passed piles of ashes from fires which were started by local Palestinians protesting against the Israeli military raid, early this morning. | |
| We came across just a few municipal workers clearing away the remains of burnt tyres. Shops and businesses across the city - home to some 50,000 people - are shuttered because of a general strike. | |
| Virtually nobody is on the street and there are just the occasional squeals of ambulances and the loud hum of Israeli military drones, which is more familiar from conflicts I have reported on in the Gaza Strip. | |
| Large plumes of dark smoke can be seen rising ominously over Jenin refugee camp. We watch as a few Israeli military jeeps whizz by. Young Palestinian men hurl stones at them and are promptly fired at. | |
| Later, Israeli Defence Yoav Gallant declared that the operation was "progressing as planned". | |
| "In the past few hours, we dealt a heavy blow to the terror organisations in Jenin and managed to record impressive operational achievements," he said. | |
| The Palestinian health ministry said eight Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces, including three in the overnight drone strike. It warned that the death toll might rise because 10 of the injured were in a critical condition. | |
| Another Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire during a related protest near the West Bank city of Ramallah, the ministry added. | |
| The Israeli military spokesman said its forces had "neutralised" seven Palestinian "terrorists" in Jenin overnight. | |
| The Jenin Brigade group has said its militants will fight back with their "last breath and bullet" | |
| A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the Israeli operation as "a new war crime against our defenceless people" that would not bring security and stability to the region. | A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the Israeli operation as "a new war crime against our defenceless people" that would not bring security and stability to the region. |
| Nabil Abu Rudeineh stressed that Palestinians would "remain steadfast on their land in the face of this brutal aggression until the occupation is defeated and freedom is achieved". | |
| There has been a surge of violence in the West Bank in recent months. | There has been a surge of violence in the West Bank in recent months. |
| On 20 June, seven Palestinians were killed during an Israeli raid in Jenin which saw the military's first use of an attack helicopter in the West Bank in years. | On 20 June, seven Palestinians were killed during an Israeli raid in Jenin which saw the military's first use of an attack helicopter in the West Bank in years. |
| The next day, two Hamas gunmen shot dead four Israelis at a petrol station and restaurant near the settlement of Eli, 40km (25 miles) south of Jenin. | The next day, two Hamas gunmen shot dead four Israelis at a petrol station and restaurant near the settlement of Eli, 40km (25 miles) south of Jenin. |
| A Palestinian man was later shot dead during a rampage by hundreds of settlers, who torched homes and cars in the nearby town of Turmusaya. | A Palestinian man was later shot dead during a rampage by hundreds of settlers, who torched homes and cars in the nearby town of Turmusaya. |
| That week also saw three Palestinian militants from Jenin killed in rare Israeli drone strike, after they allegedly carried out a shooting attack at a checkpoint near the city. | |
| Related Topics | Related Topics |
| Israel & the Palestinians | Israel & the Palestinians |
| Israel | Israel |
| West Bank | West Bank |