Smoke rises near the city’s main mosque as the Israeli military conducts raids in Jenin, the West Bank, on Monday. The Israel Defense Forces announced that it launched a large-scale operation in Jenin. Photo by Alaa Badarneh/EPA-EFE
July 3 (UPI) — Israeli forces overnight launched a massive military operation in the occupied West Bank, targeting what officials said was a terrorist headquarters within a Palestinian city’s refugee camp.
The Israel Defense Forces said early Monday that security forces were conducting “an extensive counterterrorism effort” in the area of Jenin, a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank where Israel has conducted a series of recent violent raids and home to a refugee camp of more than 10,000 people that has been framed as the a center of Palestinian resistance.
The officials said a “joint operations center” of militant group the Jenin Brigades within the camp was hit by the IDF and the Israel Security Agency, also known as Shin Bet.
The operational command center purportedly served as an advanced observation and reconnaissance center where accused armed terrorists would gather before and after conducting terrorist activities, the IDF said in a statement published to Telegram, adding that it is also a site where weapons and explosives were stored and was used as a coordination and communications hub.
“The purpose is to thwart terrorist infrastructures, harm terrorists, arrest wanted persons, thwart headquarters and military bases, explosives and explosives laboratories,” IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari said in a separate statement. “All these actions will harm Jenin’s status as a city of refuge for terrorists.”
Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant confirmed the operation on Twitter, stating his forces were concentrating on “the centers of terrorism in Jenin.”
“Against terrorism we will take an offensive and proactive approach — anyone who harms the citizens of Israel will pay a heavy price,” he said. “We closely monitor the behavior of our enemy — the security system is prepared for any scenario.”
The number of casualties was not immediately clear, though The Jerusalem Post reports that at least seven suspected terrorists were killed.
The attack was condemned by the Palestinian presidency as a war crime.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for the presidency, said in a statement reported by Palestinian WAFA New Agency, that “what the Israeli occupation government is doing in the city of Jenin and its camp is a new war crime against our defenseless people.”
“All these crimes committed by the occupation government and its terrorist settlers will not achieve security and stability for them unless our Palestinian people also feel free.”
Israel has claimed ownership of the West Bank since 1967, though its occupation is widely regarded as illegal by the international community, including by the United Nations.
The attack comes some two weeks after the Israel Defense Forces killed five Palestinians, including a child, during a raid on the refugee camp and subsequent firefight.
According to the United Nations, the Jenin Camp was established in 1953.
