Palestinians flee Israel’s ongoing raid on West Bank refugee camp as several injured in Tel Aviv drive-by attack

Thousands of Palestinian residents fled the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Tuesday, as Palestinian health officials said the death toll of The largest Israeli raid on the camp in nearly two decades had risen to 10. Meanwhile, at least eight people were injured in a car-ramming attack on a crowded bus stop in Tel Aviv city, which militant group Hamas said was a response to the raid underway in Jenin.

As the Israeli operation inside the Jenin camp, which is inside the West Bank city of the same name, continued for a second day, the Israeli military said it was seizing weapons and destroyed command posts and tunnels belonging to Palestinian militant groups. Streets were torn up inside the camp, and gunfire and explosions were heard sporadically throughout the day as Israeli troops and Palestinian militants clashed, though the fighting was reportedly less intense than Monday.

Jenin Mayor Nidal Al-Obeidi said around 4,000 people fled the refugee camp to seek refuge elsewhere, and Palestinians across the West Bank observed a general strike to protest the raid, according to the report. Associated Press.

“We are alarmed by the scale of the air and ground operations taking place in Jenin and continuing today in the West Bank, and in particular by the airstrikes that hit the densely populated refugee camp,” said Vanessa Huguenin, gatekeeper. -word of the UN humanitarian office. . She said she had heard reports that three children were among the dead. Palestinian officials said those killed were between 16 and 23 years old, CBS News’ partner network BBC News reported.

The charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said roads in the Jenin camp had been blocked or destroyed and paramedics were forced to walk amid gunfire and drone strikes to reach the injured.

“The use of attack helicopters and drone strikes in such a densely populated area represents a marked increase in intensity and is simply outrageous,” said Jovana Arsenijevic, MSF coordinator in Jenin, in a statement. . “The hospital where we are treating patients was hit by tear gas canisters. Medical structures, ambulances and patients must be respected.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israeli forces are “complete the mission” but that “our extensive activity in Jenin is not a one-off operation”, AFP news agency reported.

On Tuesday afternoon, a 20-year-old assailant rammed his car into a crowded bus stop in Tel Aviv, Israel’s second most populous city, before emerging and trying to stab people with a knife. The assailant was shot on the spot by an armed civilian, police said.

“In the first few seconds you think it could have been driver error,” a witness told BBC News. “He came out the window, not the door – like in a movie – with a knife in his hand and started chasing civilians. Now you understand this is an attack. We ran for our lives .”

The Hamas militant group identified the attacker behind what it called a “heroic operation” and “legitimate self-defense” against the Israeli operation in Jenin.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the scene of the attack in Tel Aviv and called on more Israeli citizens to take up arms, BBC News reported.