Isreal Launches Major Operation Against Palestinian Militants In West Bank
Israel launches a large-scale military operation against Palestinian militants in the Jenni refugee camp in the occupied west bank.
It started with multiple drone strikes and Israel has sent in ground forces.
The Palestinian health ministry said at least four Palestinians were killed and more than 20 others wounded.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they were striking “terrorist infrastructure in the Jenni area”
Israel’s foreign minister says they are not planning to widen the operation to the whole west bank.
According to the minister, the target is not the Palestinian people, but militant groups sponsored by Iran operating in Jenni.
Speaking at a news conference in Jerusalem, Eli Cohen said the battle is with the “proxies of Iran”
like hamas and Islamic Jihad, which Cohen describes as “terrorist organisations” financed by Tehran.
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A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the Israeli operation as
A new war crime against our defenseless people” that would not bring security and stability to the region.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh stressed that Palestinians would “remain steadfast on their land in the face of this brutal aggression until the occupation is defeated and freedom is achieved”.
There has been a surge of violence in the West Bank in recent months.
On 20 June, seven Palestinians were killed during an Israeli raid in Jenin which saw the military’s first use of an attack helicopter in the West Bank in years.
The next day, two Hamas gunmen shot dead four Israelis at a petrol station and restaurant near the settlement of Eli, 40km (25 miles) south of Jenin.
A Palestinian man was later shot dead during a rampage by hundreds of settlers, who torched homes and cars in the nearby town of Turmusaya.
That week also saw three Palestinian militants from Jenin killed in rare Israeli drone strike, after they allegedly carried out a shooting attack at a checkpoint near the city.
