The cycle of violence in Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank continues. On Tuesday, Israel continued a large-scale military operation in the Jenin refugee camp. In Tel Aviv, on the other hand, a Palestinian man injured several people in a run-over and stabbing attack.
The events were reported by, among other things, a web magazine The Times of Israelnews agency Reuters and British broadcasting company BBC.
At least eleven Palestinians have been killed and about a hundred injured in the military operation that began on Monday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health says. According to the UN among the dead were at least three minors. According to the BBC, there were four minors.
According to the Israeli Armed Forces (IDF), the dead took part in the fighting.
The night before Wednesday, Finnish time, the Israeli army said that one of its soldiers had died in a shootout on the West Bank.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said late Monday that at least 3,000 people had been evacuated from the camp. UN representative Lynn Elizabeth Hasting tells For the British Broadcasting Company BBC, that the operation caused significant damage to the camp’s infrastructure. According to him, the operation cut off electricity and water supply for most of the camp’s residents.
UN representatives on site tell in addition, the damage to the roads and the checks carried out by the Israeli soldiers slowed down the delivery of medical help to the camp. According to the WHO, ambulances were also prevented from entering some parts of the camp to help the critically wounded. The IDF denies the claim.
The Israeli military operation reportedly targeted the local wing of the extremist organization Islamic Jihad and smaller armed groups.
About 14,000 people live in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern part of the West Bank. Several armed groups also operate in the densely populated camp.
The refugee camp was established in 1953 to house Palestinians who had to leave their homes during the Israeli War of Independence.
The largest operation in two decades
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday evening that the army is ending the operation this time. According to The Times of Israel, troops began withdrawing from Jenin 44 hours after the operation began.
– I can tell you that our extensive operation in Jenin is not a one-time operation, Netanyahu says.
This is Israel’s largest military operation in the West Bank in two decades. The last time similar operations were seen was during the second Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s.
More than a thousand soldiers are involved in the operation, in addition to which Israel has used, among other things, airplanes and armored vehicles.
The IDF says that in the raid they found, among other things, explosives and weapons in a cache located under a mosque in Jenin. In addition, the IDF says it found 11 improvised bombs on the roadsides of the refugee camp.
The IDF also says it has interrogated more than 300 Palestinians and detained 30 since the operation began.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk says that the scope of the operation, including airstrikes and destruction of buildings, raises serious questions about compliance with international human rights standards.
– Airstrikes do not comply with the rules applicable to the activities of law enforcement authorities. In the framework of the occupation, Deaths caused by airstrikes can be counted as intentional killings, says Turk.
According to Turkey, Israel, as the occupying party, must minimize its use of force, especially the use of lethal force.
– These standards do not change just because the operation is described as “anti-terrorist”, says Turk.
The Palestinian Authority has condemned the operation and called it a war crime.
Several were wounded in Tel Aviv
In Israel’s largest city, Tel Aviv, on the other hand, seven people were wounded when a Palestinian man drove a car towards pedestrians on Tuesday and then continued to stab passers-by.
According to Israeli media, one of the injured was a pregnant woman. The authorities have not confirmed the information.
According to Israeli police, an armed civilian shot the man dead on the spot.
The intelligence service Shin Bet says that the man did not have a travel permit to Israel, and that he had no known previous criminal history.
The extremist organization Hamas said the man was a member of it. According to Hamas, the attack was a result of the events in Jenin.
Updated at 1:50 a.m.: Added information about the death of an Israeli army soldier in the West Bank.