Jenin, West Bank (AFP) — Israeli forces stormed the occupied West Bank city of Jenin , sparking a shootout that left at least six Palestinians dead and 20, Palestinian health officials said. More than one person was injured.
The military said it had killed a man believed to be the attacker in a shootout between two Israeli brothers last week in the town of Hawala in the northern West Bank. An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said two Israeli soldiers were wounded, one seriously injured, in a shootout in Jenin.
The Jenin Brigades, a loosely organized armed group based in refugee camps, said militants opened fire on Israeli soldiers and hurled explosives. Troops had surrounded the suspect’s house on the outskirts of the densely populated Jenin refugee camp, a center of militant activity. The video showed black smoke billowing in the distance after the military fired rockets at the besieged building.
Tuesday’s raid was the latest in a series of deadly arrest operations by Israeli forces in the northern West Bank, among the highest levels of violence in years. The raids have sparked fears of further bloodshed as Israel struggles to stem rising unrest led by young Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. They are increasingly taking up arms against Israel’s indefinite occupation.
The military also said Palestinian militants shot down two of his drones over Jenin. A video widely circulated online showed a young man holding a charred plane aloft, cheering and taking selfies. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the military for killing the attackers and wished the wounded a speedy recovery. “Anyone who harms us will pay the price,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nabil Abu Rudine, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Israeli army was waging an “all-out war” against the Palestinians, frustrating recent efforts to restore peace.
More than 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli fires this year, about half of them by militants, according to an Associated Press tally. Palestinian attacks against Israelis in East Jerusalem and the West Bank have killed 14 people over the same period. Earlier Tuesday, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gubir joined the Jewish unrest in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron as he celebrated the holiday of Purim with residents of the hardline settler community.
Dressed in a costume that combines elements of the various uniforms used by the troops under his command, Ben Guvir dances, sings and takes selfies with partygoers and soldiers at an event in the Israeli settlement of Hebron. I took it. Ben Guvir, an ultranationalist politician in Netanyahu’s new government, lives in an adjacent settlement.
It was the latest use of force by ultranationalist settlers in the occupied West Bank, backed by Ben-Gubir and other allies of the new Israeli government. In the same Palestinian town where a mob of settlers burned cars and homes last week, settlers injured a Palestinian overnight. Controversial Hebron is home to the Patriarch’s Tomb, a sacred site for Muslims, Christians and Jews. Hundreds of uncompromising settlers live in fortified enclaves under military protection in the heart of a city of over 200,000 Palestinians.
In the 1967 Middle East War, Israel occupied the West Bank along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, areas that the Palestinians aspire to be a future state. Since then, more than half a million Jewish settlers have moved to dozens of settlements that the international community considers illegal and an obstacle to peace.
