West Bank-Jenin

January 26, 2023

edited by|Paul Mitchel

During the military operation of the Israeli army In Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank, the Israeli army killed 9 Palestinians, including an elderly woman, and injured 16 others, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The Israeli forces had stormed the city and the Jenin camp and occupied the roofs of houses in the camp, which led to the outbreak of confrontations, during which soldiers fired bullets and gas grenades at Palestinian youths.

More than 16 young people were injured by occupation Bullets, were taken to the government hospitals of Jenin and Avicenna, including a child, and the injuries were concentrated in the chest, shoulder, abdomen, and foot.

The Jenin Camp club was also completely demolished by Israeli forces.

Dozens of patients at the Jenin government hospital, including children, were suffocated by the firing of tear gas canisters inside the hospital, which was denied by an Israeli army spokesman, AFP reported.

"We are living in a real state of war in Jenin and its camp, and the Israeli army is destroying everything and shooting at everything that moves," said the Deputy Governor of the city of Jenin Kamal Abu al-Rub. According to Abu al-Rub," the Israeli operation began at seven o'clock in the morning and is still ongoing".

In turn, Palestinian Health Minister Mai Al-Kila announced that" the situation in the Jenin camp is very critical, and we have been informed by the Red Crescent that there are many injuries that are difficult to save so far, " adding that Israeli forces prevented ambulances from entering the Jenin camp to rescue the wounded.

The agency confirmed that these forces stormed the Jenin government hospital and deliberately fired tear gas canisters toward the children's Department of the hospital, which led to children suffering from suffocation.

She called for an urgent meeting with the International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Health Organization "to stop this aggression and intervene to save the lives of the Palestinian people".

She called on all human rights institutions and the international community to take immediate and urgent action "to curb the racist practices carried out by the occupation army now in Jenin".

Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said that "the occupation forces continue to commit killings and executions against our people, driven by a sense of impunity".

Shtayyeh called on the United Nations and all international human rights organizations to intervene urgently "to provide protection for our people and stop the bloodletting of Children, Youth and women".

For its part, the Ministry of foreign affairs and expatriates called on the international community and the US administration to take action and"stop the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation army in the Jenin governorate and its camp".

In a statement on Thursday, the foreign ministry condemned "the bloody and barbaric incursion committed by the occupation forces since this morning against our people in Jenin and its camp".

She pointed out that"the occupation forces surrounded the camp, closed all its entrances, fired live bullets with the aim of killing in cold blood, prevented medical crews and ambulances from reaching the wounded, left them bleeding to death on the ground, and attacked the Jenin hospital with liquefied gas bombs, in a picture expressing the occupation and its insistence on escalating the situation in the conflict arena, threatening to blow it up completely.

The Palestinian National Liberation Movement also called on Fatah to" confront the occupation and its barbaric aggression against our people in the Jenin camp and all the Palestinian territories, "stressing that"this systematic and continuous aggression led by neo-fascists establishes a turning point in the conflict with the occupation and its colonial project.

Fatah added, in a statement issued by the Information, Culture, and intellectual Mobilization Commission, on Thursday, that "the bloody massacre committed by the occupation during its aggression on the Jenin camp, and led to the martyrdom of a number of citizens, including a woman; confirms that the occupation through its aggressive tools seeks to create climates of violence and terrorism that our people will face in their cities, villages, and camps with steadfastness and determination to thwart all liquidation projects of their historical rights.

The Israeli media reported that"an unusual operation is taking place in the Jenin camp with the full management and follow-up of the Shin Bet because of accurate intelligence information".

The official Israeli radio Kan reported that" forces from Al-Yamam and the border guards stormed the Jenin camp this morning on a mission to arrest wanted Palestinians, which was interspersed with a heavy exchange of fire, " and according to reports, the first force that stormed the area arrived disguised inside a dairy truck.

"Army Radio" reported that the purpose of the operation in Jenin was to arrest a large wanted man, without disclosing his identity and details.

Jenin is one of the areas of the northern West Bank where Israel has intensified its raids over the past year after gunmen launched street attacks in Israeli cities. The violence has further overshadowed stalled talks sponsored by Washington aimed at creating a state for the Palestinians.