Troops of the Israeli occupation army stormed into the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank on Tuesday, and laid siege to the city’s refugee camp and three hospitals. Fighting erupted with local Palestinian residents.
Snipers were deployed on rooftops and a curfew was imposed, reported Wafa. The official Palestinian news agency added that the army arrested two young men, whose identities are not yet known, after stopping their vehicle.
“Troops are reportedly positioned in front of the Jenin Government Hospital and its vicinity, on the outskirts of the camp, and across several neighbourhoods in search of wanted Palestinians,” said Wafa. “Drones flew low over the area.”
According to Palestine TV, “More than 100 military vehicles and seven armoured bulldozers” not only surrounded the refugee camp in Jenin, but also “Jenin Government Hospital, Ibn Sina Hospital and Al-Razi Hospital.” The channel added that the raid targeted Palestinians wanted by the Israeli army. If they weren’t found, their fathers, mothers or another one of their relatives were arrested.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu news agency that fighting broke out between the army and Palestinians in the “cinema roundabout” area and the Jabriyat neighbourhood in Jenin, as well as in the camp. Activists circulated video clips on social media showing Israeli military vehicles, while the sound of gunfire was heard in other clips.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that the Israeli army detained one of its ambulance crews in front of Jenin Government Hospital and prevented someone wounded in the foot by live from being taken for treatment. The PRCS added in a later statement that the army arrested the wounded person when he was inside the ambulance at the entrance to the hospital. It also reported that its crews dealt with “two casualties shot in the vicinity of Ofer Military Prison in Beitunia near Ramallah.”
READ: 160 corpses retrieved from under rubble in Gaza Strip
In Hebron, meanwhile, a casualty with a serious stomach wound was taken to Al-Ahli Hospital from Al-Arroub refugee camp, the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed in a brief statement.
The Israeli army has intensified raids and arrests across the occupied West Bank since 7 October. It has killed 242 Palestinians, wounded more than 3,000 and arrested 3,260, according to official Palestinian sources.
Israel launched an air and ground offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza after the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, led an attack on Israeli army barracks and settlements in the vicinity of Gaza on 7 October. The resistance fighters crossed the nominal border into the occupation state and took around 240 hostages. Since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopter gunships and tanks of the Israel Defence Forces had in fact killed many of the 1,200 soldiers and civilians alleged by Israel to have been killed by Hamas.
The apartheid occupation state has since killed more than 15,000 Palestinians in Gaza, 6,150 of whom were children, and 4,000 of whom were women. More than 36,000 people have been wounded by the Israeli offensive, and at least 7,000 are thought to be buried under the rubble of their homes destroyed by Israeli bombs.
Israel and Hamas agreed a temporary truce which came into effect last Friday and has since been extended. Women and children held hostage by both sides have been released after Qatari mediation and support from Egypt and the US. The extended truce is due to end tonight.
READ: Israel army prevents fuel truck from reaching northern Gaza: Palestine Red Crescent
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