Israel West Bank Raid: Palestinians take to streets after Israel ends its West Bank raid | World News – Times of India
JENIN: Palestinian militant fighters paraded in Jenin on Wednesday and angry crowds confronted senior Palestinian Authority officials, accusing them of weakness, after one of the largest Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank in years.
The operation, which the Israeli military said targeted infrastructure and weapons depots of militant factions in the Jenin refugee camp, left a trail of wrecked streets and burned-out cars and sparked fury across the Arab world.
At least 12 Palestinians, most confirmed as militant fighters, were killed and around 100 wounded in an incursion that began with late-night drone strikes, followed by a sweep involving more than 1,000 Israeli troops. One Israeli soldier was also killed during the operation.
“We stayed inside the house, but then they cut off electricity then water,” said Mohammad Mansour, a resident of the camp where armoured bulldozers tore up streets to expose roadside bombs, cutting power cables and water pipes. “We ended up running out of bread and supplies.”
At a funeral for 10 of the dead, three senior leaders of the Palestinian Authority were forced to leave after being confronted with a crowd of thousands, including dozens of gunmen. Following the withdrawal of the Israeli force on Tuesday evening, leaders of Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad and other armed factions claimed victory, and the mood among residents returning home to the camp appeared defiant. “They didn’t get what they wanted, thank God,” Mutasem Estatia, a father of six, said.
Israeli forces detained 150 suspected militants, seized guns and roadside mines and destroyed a command centre, the army said. It said all the Palestinians killed were armed fighters. Islamic Jihad claimed seven as members, with Hamas claiming another.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Tuesday the Jenin operation was unlikely to be a “one-off” and said it would be “the beginning of regular incursions and continuous control of the territory”. In turn, the spokesman for the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, said “every alley and street will soon turn into clashes and fighting fields”.
The operation, which the Israeli military said targeted infrastructure and weapons depots of militant factions in the Jenin refugee camp, left a trail of wrecked streets and burned-out cars and sparked fury across the Arab world.
At least 12 Palestinians, most confirmed as militant fighters, were killed and around 100 wounded in an incursion that began with late-night drone strikes, followed by a sweep involving more than 1,000 Israeli troops. One Israeli soldier was also killed during the operation.
“We stayed inside the house, but then they cut off electricity then water,” said Mohammad Mansour, a resident of the camp where armoured bulldozers tore up streets to expose roadside bombs, cutting power cables and water pipes. “We ended up running out of bread and supplies.”
At a funeral for 10 of the dead, three senior leaders of the Palestinian Authority were forced to leave after being confronted with a crowd of thousands, including dozens of gunmen. Following the withdrawal of the Israeli force on Tuesday evening, leaders of Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad and other armed factions claimed victory, and the mood among residents returning home to the camp appeared defiant. “They didn’t get what they wanted, thank God,” Mutasem Estatia, a father of six, said.
Israeli forces detained 150 suspected militants, seized guns and roadside mines and destroyed a command centre, the army said. It said all the Palestinians killed were armed fighters. Islamic Jihad claimed seven as members, with Hamas claiming another.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Tuesday the Jenin operation was unlikely to be a “one-off” and said it would be “the beginning of regular incursions and continuous control of the territory”. In turn, the spokesman for the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, said “every alley and street will soon turn into clashes and fighting fields”.
