In an unprecedented escalation in years, an Israeli force stormed the city of Jenin in the West Bank at dawn today, Monday, and arrested two Palestinians. As they were leaving, an explosive device exploded with a military vehicle.
Moments later, an Israeli helicopter entered and started shooting.
The Israeli army said in a brief statement that combat helicopters opened fire in the Jenin area after identifying armed men in the area, following an operation aimed at arresting Palestinians.
It also indicated that some military vehicles were damaged, noting that towing them would take hours.
It also confirmed that 6 soldiers were injured in the explosion of an explosive device.
For its part, the Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility for that operation, stressing that it had trapped the Israeli soldiers in a tight ambush.
From Jenin 6-19-2023 (Reuters)
The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the killing of three Palestinians, including a child, and the wounding of 45 others. She said that among the wounded were those who were hit by live bullets, some of whom had serious head injuries.
“mini invasion”
And that Israeli military operation brought back to the minds of the Palestinians the invasion that took place in the Jenin camp in April 2002, during which 58 Palestinians were killed, according to United Nations statistics at the time.
Eyewitnesses told the Arab World News Agency that what is happening in Jenin is a “mini-invasion” similar in its details to the 2002 invasion, although it differed in terms of the size of the participating forces.
The moment of detonating an Israeli armored vehicle
Especially since the Israeli army has not used helicopters in its operations in the West Bank since the second Al-Aqsa Intifada, when it invaded cities in the West Bank in 2002 in operations dubbed “The Defensive Wall”.
In turn, Major General Akram Rajoub, Governor of Jenin, confirmed that the entry of Israeli warplanes into the military operation is something new that has not happened for years.
He also considered that this is a clear indication that Israel “does not respect any human or moral values, international legitimacy or human life.”
‘Dangerous escalation’
For its part, the Palestinian presidency affirmed that this Israeli incursion aims to detonate the region and the current situation cannot continue, calling on the international community and the US administration in particular, to intervene immediately to stop the Israeli attacks.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned the Israeli attack, and said in a statement that it was “a dangerous escalation in the arena of conflict and an official appeal to the cycle of violence, and an attempt to export the crises and problems of the ruling Israeli coalition to the Palestinian arena.”
It is noteworthy that the Israeli army had previously hinted at the possibility of carrying out a large-scale operation in the northern West Bank, with the escalation of Palestinian operations against Israeli targets.
