The Israeli army bombed and stormed Jenin on Tuesday as it launched a major attack on the occupied northern West Bank city, days after a ceasefire was established in Gaza.
The attacks killed at least seven Palestinians and injured 35 others, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The bombing was accompanied by a large-scale ground attack by Israeli forces, which is expected to last several days, a military source told The Times of Israel.
Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces, which have been besieging and attacking Jenin since early December, withdrew from the city as the Israeli offensive began.
Journalists on the ground told Middle East Eye that Israeli forces are besieging al-Amal Hospital and the government hospital in Jenin.
New MEE newsletter: Dispatch from Jerusalem
Sign up to get the latest news and analysis on
Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
“The situation is extremely dire and it looks like this will be the most ferocious escalation we have seen so far,” one journalist said.
Jenin resident Asaad Salim told MEE that the Israeli assault began with special forces infiltrating the Jabriyat neighborhood in the east of the city.
Shortly after, Israeli military planes bombed a vehicle outside the Jenin refugee camp, killing the driver.
“There are dead bodies in the streets and many people are injured, but no one can reach them”
– Asaad Salim, resident of Jenin
The warplanes then began firing heavy weapons at various areas of the city and camp.
Armed clashes also broke out between Palestinian resistance fighters and the Israeli army.
“There are bodies in the streets and many people are injured, but no one can reach them. Ambulances cannot move due to the intense and sudden assault,” he said.
A doctor and a rescue worker from Jenin’s al-Amal hospital were among the injured, according to local reports.
Ambulance driver Hazem Masarwa told MEE that medical teams were unable to reach the injured.
According to Masarwa, the victims are lying on the ground in several places, including Khallet al-Souha, al-Ghubaz, al-Hussan roundabout and al-Hadaf.
“A nurse was also injured behind al-Amal hospital and, despite repeated efforts, no one was able to reach him,” he added.
Ambulances came under fire as they tried to reach the wounded, he said, and their access to several neighborhoods was blocked after Israeli military vehicles were parked at key entrances.
“It is very likely that there are other victims that we are not aware of, given the widespread violence and the inability to move freely in the city,” Masarwa said.
Israel seeks change like that of Gaza in the West Bank
The Israeli military said in a joint statement with the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, that it had launched an “anti-terrorism operation” in Jenin. He called the offensive the “Iron Wall.”
The offensive involved a large deployment of Israeli troops, special forces and Shin Bet agents, according to Israeli media.
The Jenin Brigades, the city’s largest armed resistance group, said its fighters were confronting the “invading occupying forces” on different fronts and actively engaging them with gunfire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the offensive on the social media platform X.
“This is another step towards achieving our goal of strengthening security in the West Bank,” he said.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also commented on the attack, saying in a brief statement: “Today, the concept of security in the West Bank is evolving, after Gaza and Lebanon, as part of our broader goals of elimination of terrorism in the region. »
How the PA’s latest gamble in Jenin could lead to its demise
Learn more »
Hamas called for general mobilization and confrontation against what it called “the widespread aggression of the (Israeli) occupation” in Jenin, calling for support for resistance fighters to confront the Israeli army.
In a press release, he expressed surprise at the actions of Palestinian Authority agencies, which withdrew from the vicinity of the Jenin camp just as the Israeli military operation began, after a siege that had lasted more than of 48 days.
The Islamic Jihad movement condemned the Israeli attack as a “brutal and barbaric act”, describing it as a reflection of the difficult situation Israel finds itself in following its failure to achieve its objectives in Gaza. He claimed the operation was a desperate attempt to save Netanyahu’s governing coalition.
“It aims to disrupt the atmosphere of joy among the West Bank population by forcing Israel to release a large number of prisoners, as compensation for the shock and pain that has tormented the Israeli entity,” the statement added.
The Israeli assault follows the breakdown of a truce agreement between the PA and armed groups in Jenin last week.
The Palestinian Authority has killed at least eight Palestinian residents of Jenin since launching its own operation, including several unarmed civilians.
At least six members of the Palestinian Authority security forces were also killed, some in exchanges of fire with members of armed groups.
The AP said the campaign was against “outlaws” and aimed to restore “law and order.” Armed groups claim that their fight against Israel is legitimate.
