The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it was withdrawing from the occupied West Bank city of Jenin after a large-scale attack that left at least 12 Palestinians dead, one Israeli soldier and thousands more. who had to leave their homes in the past two days.
The Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said the operation in Jenin, which focused on the refugee camp in the city, was over. “All of our troops are out of the camp,” he told Kan News, Israel’s public radio station. But he said he expected Israeli troops to return to the area in the future.
The attack on Jenin begins Monday with Israel’s heaviest air strikes on the West Coast for nearly two decades. Israel says it aims to root out armed Palestinians after dozens of gun attacks on Israelis originated in the area over the past year.
Jenin is known as a stronghold of the two main Palestinian militant groups, Islamic Jihad and Hamas .. But it is also home to emerging armed groups that are independent of established organizations. The city that was once the center of escalating tensions and violence during the year leading to penetration.
This week’s violence has heightened tensions in the region, which were already running high after the most right-wing government in Israel’s history came to power six months ago. The leaders of the coalition government promised to expansion of Jewish settlements on occupied territory and to issue a tougher response to violence.
At the same time, the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank, is increasingly losing control of military hotspots in its areas.
The leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad declared victory late Tuesday as signs surfaced that Israel would withdraw.
Israeli officials said the invasion was never aimed at conquering or holding territory in Jenin.
Even as Palestinian militant groups celebrated the withdrawal of Israeli troops, sirens sounded in Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip after five rockets were fired from Palestinian enclave. Israeli military said. No injuries were immediately reported and Israel said its air defenses block all year.
In response to the rocket fire, Israeli warplanes struck what the military described as an underground facility used for weapons production and another used for weapons production. weapons production. rocket materialbased on posts on Twitter. Israel has linked both sites to Hamas, the Palestinian militant faction that controls Gaza.
Of the 12 Palestinians killed in Operation Jenin, four were under the age of 18, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, and at least five were declared fighters by Palestinian militant groups, including a 16-year-old boy. . Israel says all Palestinians killed so far have been fighters. But the Palestinian Authority did not specify whether those killed were fighters or included civilians.
A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said on Twitter that a soldier was killed killed by gunfire during the military operation in Jenin on Tuesday night. Israeli authorities said his death was still under investigation, leaving open the possibility that the soldier could have been killed by allied fire.
Yaakov Shabtai, Israel’s police chief, told reporters that the Jenin attack was likely to intensify retaliatory attacks.
In Tel Aviv on Tuesday, a Palestinian driver injured eight people in a crash and crash, Israeli officials said. Israeli security officials said the attacker was shot dead by a civilian.
Hamas claimed the attacker was one of its members and hailed the attack as a response to “Zionist aggression in Jenin.” But Palestinian groups have been known for claim to be a member or publicly honoring all those killed by Israel, and Hamas has stopped claiming direct responsibility for the attack.
The campaign resulted in the displacement of residents in the densely populated refugee camp where the attack was concentrated. As many as 3,000 of the camp’s approximately 17,000 residents have sought shelter in schools and other public buildings, or with families elsewhere.
Some Palestinian officials believe that Israel threatened and forced camp residents to evacuate their homes.
The mayor of Jenin, Nidal Obeidi, told Voice of Palestine radio on Tuesday: “Houses have been destroyed, broken into and people forced to leave their homes.
Israeli officials denied that they had carried out any forced evacuations but confirmed that some residents had received messages from Israeli phone numbers advising them to temporarily leave their homes.
About 1,000 Israeli soldiers ransacked the camp on Tuesday after discovering and confiscating previous stockpiles of weapons, explosives and other military equipment, according to the Israeli military, adding that the force They also destroyed explosives manufacturing laboratories.
Clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants intensified on Tuesday night after a period of relative calm with sporadic gunfire. The Israeli military said its air force had hit Palestinian militants on the outskirts of the city, while Palestinian officials accused Israeli soldiers of firing tear gas at a hospital. The Israelis denied any attack near the hospital.
Army spokesman Admiral Hagari said on Tuesday that 120 wanted men had been arrested and were being questioned by security services.
“There is no point in the barracks that we have not reached,” Admiral Hagari wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
Gabby Sobelman contribution report from Rehovot, Israel; Myra Noveck from Jerusalem; And Iyad Abuheweila from Gaza City.
