Israel ends West Bank raid calling it a blow to militants. Palestinians grapple with destruction

JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) — Israel withdrew troops from a West Bank militant stronghold Wednesday however warned that its most intense army operation within the occupied territory in practically 20 years was not a one-off. Twelve Palestinians and an Israeli soldier have been killed within the two-day raid.

Residents of the Jenin refugee camp emerged from their houses to search out alleys lined by piles of rubble and flattened or scorched automobiles. Shopkeepers and bulldozers began clearing the particles. Thousands who had fled the combating started returning.

The military claimed to have inflicted heavy harm on militant teams within the operation which included a collection of airstrikes and a whole bunch of floor troops. But it remained unclear whether or not there could be any lasting impact after practically a yr and a half of heavy combating within the West Bank.

Ahead of the withdrawal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to hold out related operations if wanted.

“At these moments we are completing the mission, and I can say that our extensive operation in Jenin is not a one-off,” he mentioned throughout a go to to a army put up on the outskirts of Jenin. “We will eradicate terrorism wherever we see it and we will strike at it.”

The Jenin raid was one of the crucial intense Israeli army operations within the West Bank since an armed Palestinian rebellion towards Israel’s open-ended occupation ended 20 years in the past.

Some of the scenes from Jenin, together with large military bulldozers tearing by means of camp alleys, have been eerily just like these from a serious Israeli incursion in 2002, which lasted for eight days and have become referred to as the battle of Jenin.

Both operations, 20 years aside, have been meant to crush militant teams within the camp and deter and stop assaults on Israelis emanating from the camp. In every case, the military claimed success.

However, the continued cycle of military raids and Palestinian assaults raised new questions on Israel’s ways. This week’s raid had vast help throughout Israel’s political spectrum, however some critics in Israel argued the influence is short-lived, with slain gunmen shortly changed by others.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose autonomy authorities administers components of the West Bank, has rejected violence towards Israelis, however has successfully misplaced management over a number of strongholds of gunmen.

Many Palestinians see the actions of the gunmen as an inevitable results of 56 years of occupation and the absence of any political course of with Israel. They additionally level to elevated West Bank settlement development and violence by extremist settlers.

Palestinian well being officers mentioned 12 Palestinians have been killed in Jenin and greater than 140 have been wounded, together with 83 who wanted remedy in hospitals. Another Palestinian man was killed by Israeli forces in an unrelated incident close to the West Bank metropolis of Ramallah. Dr. Wissam Bakr, the top of Jenin Hospital, mentioned many of the wounded have been shot within the head and chest, and that 20 suffered extreme accidents.

The Israeli army has claimed it killed solely militants, nevertheless it has not supplied particulars.

Summing up the raid, the army mentioned it had confiscated 1000’s of weapons, bomb-making supplies and caches of cash. Weapons have been present in militant hideouts and civilian areas alike, in a single case beneath a mosque, the army mentioned.

The withdrawal got here hours after a Hamas militant rammed his automotive right into a crowded Tel Aviv bus cease and started stabbing individuals, wounding eight, together with a pregnant girl who reportedly misplaced her child. The attacker was killed by an armed bystander. Hamas mentioned the assault was revenge for the Israeli offensive.

Early Wednesday, militants from Hamas-ruled Gaza additionally fired 5 rockets towards Israel, which Israel mentioned have been intercepted. Israeli jets struck a number of websites in Gaza.

The large-scale raid comes amid a greater than yearlong spike in violence that has created a problem for Netanyahu’s far-right authorities, which is dominated by ultranationalists who’ve referred to as for harder motion towards Palestinian militants solely to see the combating worsen.

Over 140 Palestinians have been killed this yr within the West Bank, and Palestinian assaults concentrating on Israelis have killed not less than 25 individuals, together with a capturing final month that killed 4 settlers.

The sustained operation has raised warnings from humanitarian teams of a deteriorating scenario.

Doctors Without Borders accused the military of firing tear fuel right into a hospital, filling the emergency room with smoke and forcing emergency sufferers to be handled in a predominant corridor.

The U.N.’s human rights chief mentioned the dimensions of the operation “raises a host of serious issues with respect to international human rights norms and standards, including protecting and respecting the right to life.”

Kefah Ja’ayyasah, a camp resident, mentioned troopers forcibly entered her dwelling and locked the household inside.

“They took the young men of my family to the upper floor, and they left the women and children trapped in the apartment at the first floor,” she mentioned, talking earlier than the military withdrawal.

She claimed troopers wouldn’t let her take meals to the youngsters and blocked an ambulance crew from coming into the house when she yelled for assist, earlier than finally permitting the household passage to a hospital.