The Palestinian Authority’s health ministry reports that during a raid in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, Israeli troops killed at least six Palestinians and injured 11 others.
According to a statement released by the ministry on Tuesday, two of the injured individuals had significant wounds.
Witnesses told the AFP news agency that Israeli forces encircled and rocketed a residence. Social media footage surfaced of helicopters flying over a column of military trucks entering the city.
The killing of two brothers last week from an illegal settlement close to the Palestinian town of Huwara, according to Israeli authorities, was carried out by one of the Palestinian men they killed.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reported that the shooter who killed two Israeli settlers in the West Bank last month had been “eliminated” by troops.
In a report from Ramallah for Al Jazeera, Sara Khairat stated that Israeli forces also raided another refugee camp south of Nablus on Tuesday night.
Three males were taken into custody after the army broke into a building in the Askar refugee camp, two of whom were the sons of a Jenin victim who was 49 years old.
The use of missiles in Jenin on Tuesday was described as an act of “all-out war” by Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Abu Rudeineh claimed that the Israeli government was “responsible for this dangerous escalation” that threatened to worsen the situation and undermine all efforts to restore stability.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is also anticipated to bring up the violence when he visits Israel this week. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated calls for both sides to defuse tensions in the West Bank overnight.
Prior to the beginning of the Jewish Passover celebration and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, there has been little indication that the violence will abate.
Israeli settlers opened fire on Palestinians overnight on Monday in the town of Huwara, which was the scene of a violent outburst last week by dozens of settlers demanding retaliation for the shooting of the two Jews as they were sitting in their car.
In Huwara, groups of what the military referred to as “a number of aggressive rioters” were dispersed by Israeli army and border police personnel. Social media users posted videos of a group of young people attacking a Palestinian automobile before the driver was able to escape.
On what was the Jewish holiday of Purim, other video appeared to show Israeli soldiers dancing alongside Jewish settlers in the area. “Huwara has been conquered, gentlemen!” a voice is heard announcing in Hebrew.
Last week, after two brothers were wounded by a Palestinian shooter while they were in their car at a neighboring checkpoint, settlers burned dozens of cars and homes on fire in Huwara.
When ultra-nationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is in charge of some areas of the administration of the West Bank, claimed Huwara should be “erased,” the rampage—which a top Israeli commander called a “pogrom”—sparked global anger and condemnation. Smotrich later issued a partial retraction.
At least five Palestinians have been killed by settlers so far in 2023, compared to at least 68 Palestinians killed by Israeli troops.
According to Marwan Bishara, senior political analyst for Al Jazeera, Israel’s brutal suppression of Palestinian resistance won’t have much of an impact.
“Through the years and decades, it has become clear that the notion that Jenin can simply be contained by using more violence is false. The Palestinian resistance’s most significant symbols have evolved to be the refugee camps and the towns where Israel has killed the most people, according to Bishara.
We’re going to continue to see more Israeli raids, more Palestinian resistance, and the cycle will continue. Hebron, Gaza, Jenin, and other communities have proven to be the most resilient and steadfast.
