Israel launches drones, deploys hundreds of troops in the West Bank – National | 24CA News
Israel used drones to strike targets in a militant stronghold within the occupied West Bank early Monday and deployed tons of of troops within the space, in an incursion that resembled the wide-scale army operations carried out in the course of the second Palestinian rebellion twenty years in the past. Palestinian well being officers mentioned no less than seven Palestinians have been killed.
Troops remained contained in the Jenin refugee camp at noon Monday, pushing forward with the biggest operation within the space throughout greater than a 12 months of preventing. It got here at a time of rising home strain for a troublesome response to a collection of assaults on Israeli settlers, together with a taking pictures assault final month that killed 4 Israelis.
Black smoke rose from the crowded streets of the camp, the sound of gunfire rang out and the buzzing of drones could possibly be heard overhead because the army pressed on. Residents mentioned electrical energy was minimize off in some components and army bulldozers plowed by way of slender streets, damaging buildings as they cleared the way in which for Israeli forces in one other reminder of the final rebellion. The Palestinians and neighboring Jordan condemned the violence.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant huddled with high army commanders and mentioned the operation was “proceeding as planned.” He mentioned Israel had dealt “a tough blow” to native militant teams however gave no indication when the incursion would finish.
Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, a military spokesman, mentioned the operation started simply after 1 a.m. with an airstrike on a constructing utilized by militants to plan assaults. He mentioned the objective of the operation was to destroy and confiscate weapons.
“We’re not planning to hold ground,” he mentioned. “We’re acting against specific targets.”
Smoke rises throughout an Israeli army raid of the militant stronghold of Jenin within the occupied West Bank, Monday, July 3, 2023.
AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed
He mentioned {that a} brigade-size drive _ roughly 2,000 troopers _ was participating within the operation, and that army drones had carried out a collection of strikes to clear the way in which for the bottom forces. Although Israel has carried out remoted airstrikes within the West Bank in current weeks, Hecht mentioned Monday’s collection of strikes was an escalation unseen since 2006 _ the tip of the Palestinian rebellion.
While Israel described the assault as a pinpoint operation, smoke billowed from inside the crowded camp, with mosque minarets close by. Ambulances raced towards a hospital the place the wounded have been introduced in on stretchers.
Lynn Hastings, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator within the Palestinian areas, mentioned on Twitter that she was “alarmed by scale of Israeli forces operation,” noting the airstrikes in a densely populated refugee camp. She mentioned the U.N. was mobilizing humanitarian assist.
According to the official Palestinian news company Wafa, the army blocked roads inside the camp, took over homes and buildings and arrange snipers on rooftops. The ways signaled the operation might drag on for a while.
The Palestinian Health Ministry mentioned no less than seven Palestinians have been killed and over two dozen injured Monday, three of them critically.
In a separate incident, a 21-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli fireplace close to the West Bank metropolis of Ramallah, the ministry mentioned.
“Our Palestinian people will not kneel, will not surrender, will not raise the white flag, and will remain steadfast on their land in the face of this brutal aggression,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian president, mentioned in a press release.
Tires burn throughout an Israeli army raid within the militant stronghold of Jenin refugee camp within the occupied West Bank, Monday, July 3, 2023.
AP Photo/Nasser Nasser
Jordan referred to as for Israel to halt its raids into the West Bank.
The Jenin camp and an adjoining city of the identical identify have been a flashpoint as Israeli-Palestinian violence escalated since spring 2022.
Israel’s international minister, Eli Cohen, praised the efforts of the army throughout an tackle to international journalists and accused archenemy Iran of being behind the violence by funding Palestinian militant teams.
“Due to the funds they receive from Iran, the Jenin camp has become a center for terrorist activity,” he mentioned, including that the operation can be carried out in a “targeted manner” to keep away from civilian casualties.
Palestinians reject such claims, saying the violence is a pure response to 56 years of occupation since Israel captured the West Bank within the 1967 Mideast battle.
Jenin has lengthy been a bastion for armed wrestle in opposition to Israel and was a serious friction level within the final Palestinian rebellion.
In 2002, days after a Palestinian suicide bombing throughout a big Passover gathering killed 30 individuals, Israeli troops launched an enormous operation within the Jenin camp. For eight days and nights they fought militants avenue by avenue, utilizing armored bulldozers to destroy rows of properties, lots of which had been booby-trapped.
Retired Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi, who served as a battalion commander within the northern West Bank in 2002, described Monday’s operation as a “raid” by which the military strikes in after which withdraws.
But Avivi, who’s president and founding father of the Israel Defense and Security Forum, a hawkish group of former army commanders, mentioned the scale of the drive indicated the operation might final “for a longer period of time, not just a few hours, but maybe a few days.”
Monday’s raid got here two weeks after one other violent confrontation in Jenin and after the army mentioned a pair of rockets have been fired from the realm final week. The rockets exploded shortly after launch, inflicting no harm in Israel, however marked an escalation that has raised considerations in Israel.
“There has been a dynamic here around Jenin for the last year,” Hecht mentioned, defending Monday’s ways. “It’s been intensifying all the time.”
But there additionally might have been political concerns at play. Leading members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right authorities, which is dominated by West Bank settlers and their supporters, have been calling for a broader army response to the continuing violence within the space.
“Proud of our heroes on all fronts and this morning especially of our soldiers operating in Jenin,” tweeted National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist who lately referred to as for Israel to kill “thousands” of militants if vital. “Praying for their success.”
More than 130 Palestinians have been killed this 12 months within the West Bank, a part of greater than a yearlong spike in violence that has seen among the worst bloodshed within the space in almost twenty years.
The outburst of violence escalated final 12 months after a spate of Palestinian assaults prompted Israel to step up its raids within the West Bank.
Israel says the raids are supposed to beat again militants. The Palestinians say such violence is inevitable within the absence of any political course of with Israel and elevated West Bank settlement building and violence by extremist settlers.
Israel says most of these killed have been militants, however stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and other people uninvolved in confrontations have additionally been killed.
Palestinian assaults in opposition to Israelis because the begin of this 12 months have killed 24 individuals.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip within the 1967 Mideast battle. The Palestinians search these territories for his or her hoped-for unbiased state.
Associated Press author Omar Akour contributed to this report from Amman, Jordan.
