Israel targets West Bank militant stronghold with drones and troops, killing 8 Palestinians

JENIN, West Bank — Israel struck targets in a militant stronghold within the occupied West Bank and deployed a whole bunch of troops Monday in an incursion that resembled the broad assaults carried out through the second Palestinian rebellion twenty years in the past. Palestinian well being officers mentioned a minimum of eight Palestinians had been killed and dozens wounded.

The assault started with drone strikes and continued with troops, which remained contained in the Jenin refugee camp at noon, pushing forward with the most important operation within the space throughout greater than a 12 months of combating. It got here amid rising home strain for a tricky response to a collection of assaults on Israeli settlers, together with a capturing assault final month that killed 4 Israelis.

Black smoke rose from the crowded streets of the camp whereas exchanges of fireplace rang out and the buzzing of drones was heard overhead. Military bulldozers plowed by way of slender streets, damaging buildings as they cleared the best way for Israeli forces.

The Palestinians and neighboring Jordan and Egypt and the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemned the violence, together with the United Arab Emirates, which established diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant mentioned the operation was “proceeding as planned,” however gave no indication when it will finish. Fighting continued some 14 hours after Israel entered the camp.

Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, a military spokesman, mentioned a brigade-size power — roughly 2,000 troopers — was participating and that navy drones had carried out a collection of strikes.

Although Israel has carried out remoted airstrikes within the West Bank in current weeks, Hecht mentioned Monday’s strikes had been an escalation unseen since 2006 — the top of the final Palestinian rebellion.

Smoke billowed from throughout the crowded camp, with mosque minarets within the backdrop. Ambulances raced towards a hospital the place the wounded had 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 support.

According to the official Palestinian information company Wafa, the navy blocked roads throughout the camp, took over homes and buildings and put snipers on rooftops. The ways signaled the operation may drag on for a while.

“There are bulldozers destroying the streets, snipers are inside and on roofs of houses, drones are hitting houses and Palestinians are killed in the streets,” mentioned Jamal Huweil, a political activist within the camp, predicting the operation would fail.

“They can destroy the refugee camp but will fail again because the only solution is the political solution in which a Palestinian state is established and the occupation ends,” he mentioned.

The Palestinian Health Ministry mentioned a minimum of eight Palestinians had been killed and 50 folks had been wounded — 10 critically. The useless had been recognized as younger males and Palestinian youths, together with a 16-year-old boy and two 17-year-olds.

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,” mentioned Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh.

On Monday afternoon, the Israeli military mentioned it had uncovered three weapons-making amenities, confiscated a whole bunch of explosives and shot two Palestinian gunmen throughout shootouts.

The military additionally reported exchanges of fireplace between Israeli safety forces and Palestinian gunmen at a mosque the place troopers discovered explosive units, weapons and navy tools.

The Jenin camp and an adjoining city of the identical title have been a flashpoint since Israeli-Palestinian violence started escalating in spring 2022.

Israel‘s international minister, Eli Cohen, 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 instructed international journalists, including that the operation can be performed 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 significant friction level within the final Palestinian rebellion.

In 2002, days after a Palestinian suicide bombing throughout a big Passover gathering killed 30 folks, Israeli troops launched an enormous operation within the camp. For eight days and nights they fought militants road by road, utilizing armored bulldozers to destroy rows of houses, lots of which had been booby-trapped.

Monday’s raid got here two weeks after one other violent confrontation in Jenin and after the navy mentioned a pair of rockets had been fired from the realm final week. The rockets exploded shortly after launch, inflicting no injury in Israel, however marked an escalation that has raised considerations in Israel.

But there additionally might have been political issues 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 navy 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 hundreds of militants if mandatory. “Praying for their success.”

Israeli navy consultants mentioned they anticipated the operation to wrap up inside hours or a day or two. Prolonged violence and heavy casualties would threat attracting elevated worldwide criticism and drawing militants from the Gaza Strip and even Lebanon into the combating.

“From the Israeli point of view, the intent and interest are to end this very limited operation ASAP and to make sure it does not become a regional event,” mentioned Giora Eiland, a retired Israeli normal and former nationwide safety adviser.

Islamic Jihad, a militant group with a big presence in Jenin, threatened to launch assaults from its Gaza Strip stronghold if the combating dragged on.

“If the Israeli aggression against Jenin does not stop, the Palestinian resistance will do what it has to do in a short time,” mentioned Dawood Shehab, a spokesman for the group.

Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group additionally condemned the assaults, saying in a press release that the Palestinians have “many alternatives and means that will make the enemy regret its acts.” Hezbollah fought a monthlong battle in opposition to Israel in 2006.

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 a few of the worst bloodshed within the space in practically twenty years.

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 development and violence by extremist settlers.

Israel says most of these killed have been militants, however stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and folks uninvolved in confrontations have additionally been killed.

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.

• Federman reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press author Julia Frankel in Jerusalem and Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.