At least one Palestinian has been killed in an Israeli army raid on the West Bank this morning. At least 13 people, including a 19-year-old woman, were also injured, according to Palestinian sources. Israel has arrested three Palestinians.
The raid took place in the refugee camp of the city of Jenin in the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The Israeli army says they went there because the house of the suspected perpetrator of the terrorist attack from last Thursday in Tel Aviv. Three people were killed in the attack on a bar in a busy nightlife area.
Israel also says that the action in Jenin and nearby villages wanted to detain two people suspected of involvement in terrorism. After the raid, a firefight ensued, resulting in the death.
Islamic Jihad
The Palestinian killed by Israel this morning has been claimed by Islamic Jihad as one of its fighters. The Palestinian movement is viewed by Israel and the West as a terrorist organization.
The rival movement Hamas also praised the Palestinians who fired on Israeli troops this morning. A Hamas spokesman also called for a further escalation of violence “to all cities and towns in the West Bank.”
No Israelis were reported to have been injured. The country also says it has seized an M16 machine gun from a wounded Palestinian.
Videos circulating on social media show Israeli troops entering the city and hearing gunfire. Palestinian media report that the Israeli army was looking for the father of Ra’ad Hazem, the 28-year-old Palestinian who was behind the attack in Tel Aviv. The father had praised his son for his act in the hours after the attack.
Series of attacks
Today’s raid followed a series of attacks in Israel that killed 14 people in recent weeks.
Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Bennett said in response to the terror attack in Tel Aviv that the military and intelligence services have complete freedom to end the wave of attacks. The country’s highest-ranking soldier ordered the army to focus mainly on the north of the West Bank, where the city of Jenin is also located.
That city, and in particular the refugee camp, is considered a stronghold of Palestinian militant groups. Most of the descendants of Palestinians who fled the area that is now Israel around the founding of Israel in 1948 live in the camp. The perpetrators of the last two attacks in Israel both came from near Jenin.
The Israeli invasion of Jenin is not the first this month. For example, near the city last week three Palestinians killed who were planning to carry out an attack according to Israel. Four Israelis were also injured. In all, more than 20 Palestinians were killed by Israel in a variety of incidents in the occupied West Bank this year.
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