Palestinian official says hundreds leave Jenin as Israel presses on with raid
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People with their belongings fleeing the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Jan 23.
PHOTO: AFP
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JENIN, Palestinian Territories - A Palestinian official said hundreds of people began leaving their homes in a flashpoint area of the West Bank on Jan 23 as Israeli forces pressed a deadly operation there.
The Israeli military this week launched a raid in the Jenin area
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the objective of the operation, dubbed “Iron Wall”, was to “eradicate terrorism” in the area.
He linked the operation to a broader strategy of countering Iran “wherever it sends its arms – in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen” and the West Bank.
The Israeli government has accused Iran, which supports armed groups across the Middle East, including Hamas in Gaza, of attempting to funnel weapons and funds to militants in the occupied Palestinian territory.
“Hundreds of camp residents have begun leaving after the Israeli army, using loudspeakers on drones and military vehicles, ordered them to evacuate the camp,” Jenin governor Kamal Abu al-Rub told AFP.
The Israeli army told AFP that it was “unaware of any evacuation orders for residents in Jenin as of now”.
Since it began on Jan 22, the operation has killed at least 10 Palestinians and injured 40 more in the Jenin area, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Jenin resident Salim Saadi said: “There are dozens of camp residents who have begun to leave.
“The army is in front of my house. They could enter at any moment.”
Israeli forces have also detained several Palestinians from the Jenin area, with an AFP photographer seeing a row of blindfolded men in white jumpsuits being transported out of the West Bank.
Drones
Palestinians had already begun fleeing the Jenin area on foot on Jan 22, with AFPTV images showing a group of men, women and children making their way down a muddy road, the sound of drones buzzing above them clearly audible.
The Israeli military said on Jan 23 that it killed two Palestinian militants near Jenin during the night, accusing them of having murdered three Israelis.
In a statement, the military said Israeli forces found the two militants barricaded in a house in the village of Burqin.
“After an exchange of fire, they were eliminated by the forces,” it said, adding that one soldier was injured in the gunfight.
The two men were wanted for killing three Israelis and wounding six others in a Jan 6 attack on a bus in the West Bank.
Violence has surged throughout the occupied West Bank since the Gaza war erupted on Oct 7, 2023, following Hamas’ attack on southern Israel.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 850 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war began.
During the same period, at least 29 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations in the territory, according to official Israeli figures.
The Jenin raid began days after a truce took effect in Gaza on Jan 19, after 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas.
The Oct 7, 2023, attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history, resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Militants also took 251 people hostage, 91 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the military has said are dead.
The attack sparked a devastating war in Gaza that has killed, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory, more than 47,100 people, of whom the majority are civilians – figures the UN considers reliable.
‘Unwavering support’
Under the fragile truce agreement, three Israeli women hostages held by militants in Gaza since 2023 returned home, in exchange for the release from Israeli jails of around 90 Palestinian prisoners.
On Jan 18, the two sides should undertake a second swop.
As part of the first phase of the ceasefire, which is intended to last for 42 days, Israeli forces are withdrawing from densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip.
On Jan 22, the Israeli military said it had killed a militant in Gaza from the Hamas-allied movement Islamic Jihad, the first such reported death since the start of the truce.
The military said it was abiding by the terms of the ceasefire, saying it was “determined to fully maintain the terms of the agreement in order to return the hostages”.
The ceasefire followed months of fruitless negotiations mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt.
US President Donald Trump has taken credit for finally clinching the deal, having sent an envoy to help push through an agreement before he took office.
On Jan 23, Mr Marco Rubio, the new top US diplomat, reaffirmed his administration’s “unwavering support” for Israel.
Mr Rubio spoke to Mr Netanyahu from Washington
In one of his first acts in office, Mr Trump ended sanctions on extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank imposed by former president Joe Biden over their attacks on Palestinians. AFP
