As part of one of the largest operations in the West Bank in 20 years, Israeli soldiers launched drone strikes on the city of Jenin on Monday.
The Israeli military began what appears to be one of its largest operations in the territory in recent years on Monday morning with drone strikes. Throughout the day, gunfire and explosions were heard as clashes between Israeli forces and fighters from the Jenin Brigades, a unit comprised of militant groups based in the city’s dense refugee camp, continued.
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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out 10 drone airstrikes and 1000–2000 soldiers targeted a militant “command and control” center and weapons and explosive manufacturing locations. The highly congested refugee camp, home to 18,000 people and now a closed Israeli military zone, heard gunshots and explosions throughout the day.
The IDF said in an announcement it began the ongoing “extensive counterterrorism effort in the area of the city of Jenin and the Jenin Refugee Camp,” striking “terrorist infrastructure.” Palestinians, on the other hand, accused it of committing a war crime.
Fatalities caused by drone strikes and ground offensives
On Monday, Jenin’s streets were empty except for crowds watching the gunfights at the camp’s main entrance. Black smoke from tire fires and tear gas engulfed the air. It was difficult for ambulances to pass impromptu Israeli checkpoints. Hundreds of Palestinian families fled the area as a result of the devastation; the deputy mayor of Jenin, Mohammed Jarrar, stated that homes and infrastructure had been destroyed, cutting off the refugee camp’s electricity, communications, and water. The damage made it hard to obtain a clear image of what was going on. Palestinian medical personnel have also struggled to access the injured.
Health officials report that nine Palestinians have been killed and 100 have been injured. Five teenagers were killed in the assault, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. In a separate incident, Israeli forces fired and killed a tenth Palestinian near Ramallah in the West Bank, according to health officials.
According to IDF chief spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, “eight terrorists” were murdered in Jenin and there are “no non-combatants that have died as far as we know.”
How long would the drone strike and troop attacks last?
The Israeli military stated that there was no specific timeline for ending of the operation, but it could be “a matter of hours or a few days”.
On Monday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded his country’s forces for infiltrating what he termed a “nest of terrorists” and stated that they were doing so “with minimal civilian injuries. We will continue this action as long as necessary in order to restore quiet and security,” he added.
The Palestinian Authority’s prime minister, Mohammed Shtayyeh, reacted vehemently to the operation. “What’s going on is an attempt to erase the refugee camp completely and displace the residents,” he said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said, “The plan was not to expand the military operation outside Jenin, but already Palestinian protests have reached the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip. And the longer this action goes on in Jenin, the greater the risk of another dangerous, wider escalation.”
Mounting violence in Jenin for years
Jenin is home to a new generation of Palestinian militants dissatisfied with the Palestinian Authority’s aging leadership and the Israeli occupation. In the past year, the city has been the target of repeated Israeli military assaults.
Since the start of the year, Israeli forces or settlers have killed more than 140 Palestinians, both terrorists and civilians, in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and 36 in the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces invaded Jenin during the second Palestinian intifada in 2002. Ten days of intense conflict killed 52 Palestinian militants and citizens and 23 Israeli soldiers.
The camp has been at the center of an escalation of violence across the West Bank, which has sparked increasing alarm from Washington to the Arab world but has not yet paved the way for the resumption of political negotiations that have been suspended for nearly a decade. For more than a year, army raids in cities like Jenin have become commonplace, while Palestinians have killed Israelis and Jewish settler mobs have attacked Palestinian villages.
The Israeli military had not utilized West Bank drone strikes since 2006 until June 21, when it struck near Jenin. A military spokesman warned such tactics may continue due to rising violence and ground force pressure.
US gives steady support to Israel’s “massacre” in Jenin
The US expressed its support and the White House said it defended Israel’s right to security and was monitoring the situation on the West Bank closely. “We have seen the reports and are monitoring the situation closely,” a White House spokesperson said. “We support Israel’s security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups.”
According to analysts, the unwavering support of the United States for Israel has enabled and emboldened the right-wing Israeli government to escalate its violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Experts say such an answer shows US President Joe Biden’s unwillingness to rein in his country’s major Middle East ally despite a vow to base US foreign policy on human rights, and as concerns about the Israeli attack in Jenin grow.
“I think we will continue to see – as has happened in the past – the US administration runs cover for the Israelis and let them get away with doing whatever they want,” Daniel Levy, president of the US/Middle East Project said in an international daily’s interview.
Levy stated that the Biden administration does not want the situation in the West Bank to escalate, but will not jeopardies its relationship with Israel. “And that’s why in particular things have gotten so bad,” he added.
According to neighboring Jordan, the operation was “a clear violation of international humanitarian law.” Rishi Sunak, the British prime minister, urged the Israeli military to exercise restraint. Egypt also criticized the Israeli invasion, characterizing it as a “aggression.”
Lastly, Jenin has been experiencing a surge of violence as Israeli forces carried out drone strikes and a large-scale operation. It highlights the need for political and geopolitical negotiations and the disturbingly unwavering support of the United States for Israel’s actions, despite concerns about human rights abuses.
