According to Palestinian sources, an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin resulted in the deaths of at least four Palestinians, including a teenager.
The Ministry of Health reported that undercover Israeli agents “broke into downtown Jenin” during the raid on Thursday, the most recent since Israel stepped up similar operations in the West Bank last year.
Three of the deceased, Youssef Shreem, 29, Nidal Khazim, 28, and Omar Awadin, 16, were recognized by the ministry. The fourth person’s identification was not immediately clear.
In the Jenin refugee camp, according to the Israeli army, security personnel are active.
In an effort to combat the escalating armed Palestinian resistance, Israel has increased raids in many northern West Bank communities, including Jenin.
A group of Palestinians seemed to surround a car in amateur video shot in Jenin that people believed contained covert Israeli forces. Another video footage appeared to show the car being towed away by Israeli military vehicles.
The incident happened the day after the Palestinian Authority announced it will attend a security conference with Israel in Sharm El-Sheikh, an Egyptian tourist town on the Red Sea, on March 19.
Representatives from Egypt, Jordan, and the United States will also be present at the summit.
The Palestinian leadership shouldn’t attend the summit, according to political expert Nour Odeh, because the Palestinian people is “resoundingly against” it.
“Instead of cooperating with an Israeli government, the Palestinian leadership should look inside, represent the wishes of its people, and seek to heal the Palestinian gap,” Odeh said from Ramallah.
The Israeli government, according to Odeh, does not recognize the Palestinian people.
The goal of this [Israeli] government is to thoroughly crush the Palestinian people’s aspirations for freedom and statehood by carrying out widespread ethnic cleansing, displacing Palestinians, demolishing their homes, and prohibiting Palestinian construction in the West Bank.
After Thursday’s deaths, there have now been 83 Palestinian fatalities this year, as Israel has increased arrest operations in response to a string of attacks this spring.
14 individuals have been murdered in Palestinian attacks on Israelis in 2023.
Less than 48 hours after six more Palestinians were killed in another raid in Jenin, Israeli forces last week killed three of them. During a massive raid on the Jenin refugee camp in January, Israeli soldiers killed nine Palestinians, among them an elderly woman.
In raids conducted by Israel in 2022, more than 170 Palestinians—many of them civilians—were killed.
