Six Palestinians, including the perpetrator of a recent attack that claimed the lives of two Israelis, were killed on Tuesday in a new Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank, the latest episode in a wave of violence that seems not to want ebb.
At the end of the operation, which mobilized armored vehicles, drones, as well as at least one bulldozer and an attack helicopter, an AFP journalist was able to film inside the building where he had taken refuge Abdel Fatah Hussein Khrouchah, a member of the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, in the Jenin refugee camp.
According to consistent information provided by the Israeli forces and testimonies collected on the spot, the soldiers surrounded the building and violent clashes opposed them to armed men inside, but also to Palestinian fighters in the streets of this area. urban area in the northern West Bank.
Witnesses spoke of rocket fire at the building. The military confirmed that "portable missile launchers" were used against the apartment building. Inside, sections of collapsed walls bear witness to the violence of the fighting.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the death of six Palestinians "killed by the [Israeli] occupation in Jenin": in addition to Khrouchah, 49, five men aged 22 to 29. And 26 other people were injured, three of them seriously. Israeli forces reported two minor injuries in their ranks.
According to Israeli authorities, Khrouchah was the perpetrator of the February 26 attack that claimed the lives of two brothers living in a Jewish settlement in the northern West Bank, territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the soldiers for "acting with surgical precision in the hideout of the assassins" and "eliminating [a] heinous terrorist". "Anyone who hurts us will pay the price," he added.
"The crimes and massacres perpetrated by the Israelis will not intimidate our Palestinian people but will strengthen them in their determination to fight the Israeli occupation," Hamas reacted.
Islamic Jihad issued a statement with a similar tone, as did Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, the text of which suggests that members of the Palestinian security forces took part in the fighting against the Israeli army.
Nabil Abou Roudeina, spokesman for the Palestinian presidency, denounced as an act of "total war" the use of rockets against homes in the city and accused the Israeli government of being "responsible for [a] dangerous escalation which threatens to ignite the situation and destroy all efforts to restore stability".
In the Askar refugee camp, in Nablus, another city in the north of the West Bank, the scene like Jenin of repeated Israeli military raids described by the army as "anti-terrorist operations" for almost a year, the soldiers arrested three son of Khrushah, according to Palestinian sources.
The Shin Beth, the Israeli internal security, indicates for its part that two sons of Khrouchah were arrested and that they are suspected of having helped their father to plan his attack.
Since the beginning of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 71 Palestinians (including combatants and civilians, including minors) and 13 Israelis (including minors and security forces) and one Ukrainian, according to an AFP count compiled from official Israeli and Palestinian sources.
After a rare meeting in Aqaba (Jordan), Israeli and Palestinian leaders pledged on February 26 to work towards "de-escalation".
But even as this meeting was taking place, the murderous attack attributed by Israel to Khrushah took place, and the following night, Jewish settlers attacked the Palestinian town of Huwara in retaliation, setting fire to several buildings.
In Amman, Jordanian Foreign Affairs on Tuesday condemned "the continued Israeli incursions into occupied Palestinian cities".
France deplored the "continuous deterioration" of the situation and said it was "extremely concerned" by the wave of violence.
During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, the warning sirens sounded in Nir Am, a small Israeli town located just a few kilometers from the Gaza Strip, following a rocket attack identified from this Palestinian territory under control of Hamas, the Israeli army said.
The rocket "appears to have exploded inside the Gaza Strip," the army added in a brief statement.
08/03/2023 04:36:32 - Jenin (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
