Israeli military sends reinforcements to Jenin camp after deadly air raid

The Israeli military has sent reinforcements to the Jenin refugee camp in the northern part of the West Bank after it carried out large-scale air attacks on the area, which killed at least seven Palestinians and wounded 40 others.

According to the Palestinian news agency Quds News Network, convoys of dozens of Israeli armored vehicles rolled into the refugee camp from all sides, as the forces launched a ground military operation, causing heavy damage to homes and roads.

A video shared on the agency’s Twitter account showed an Israeli military bulldozer plowing through several roads in the camp, blocking residents from accessing other neighborhoods in the city.

At least six drones could be seen circling over the city. Palestinian resistance fighters could intercept one of the unmanned aerial vehicles and shoot it down, the agency added.

Later, Palestinian fighters managed to blow up an Israeli military bulldozer with an improvised explosive device at the entrance to Jenin camp, it said.

Media reports said that ambulances cannot get to the wounded as a fierce gun battle is underway between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian resistance fighters.

Jenin’s deputy governor Kamal Abu al-Rub told Al Jazeera the Israeli army “is not only targeting people, but the infrastructure of the camp as well. They have cut off all electricity, telecommunications and water”.

Abu al-Rub said this is “collective punishment” for all residents of Jenin and particularly the refugee camp, describing Israel’s actions inside the camp as “terrorism”.

“They are the ones [who] raid our areas and our homes, and it is our right to defend our dignity and honor because we are the rightful owners of this land.”

“There is bombing from the air and an invasion from the ground,” Mahmoud al-Saadi, the director of the Palestine Red Crescent Society in Jenin, told AFP.

“Several houses and sites have been bombed … smoke is rising from everywhere,” Saadi said.

The Jenin Brigades said it was engaging the Israeli forces, while the Gaza-based Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement announced in a statement that “all options are open to strike the enemy [Israel] in response to its aggression in Jenin.”

The Israeli military asserted in a statement on Monday that it struck a “joint operations center”, which served as a command center for the Jenin Brigades.

It further claimed the site functioned as an “advanced observation and reconnaissance center” and a weapons and explosives site as well as a coordination and communications hub for Palestinian fighters.

Israeli forces kill 5 Palestinians, injure dozens in Jenin shootout

At least five Palestinians were killed and 45 others wounded after Israeli troops raided the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

On June 19, Israeli soldiers stormed Jenin and fired live ammunition, stun grenades, and toxic gas. At least seven Palestinians, including one minor, were killed and more than 90 people suffered injuries.

Combat helicopters were used for the first time in decades after the ensuing hours-long exchange of gunfire between Palestinian resistance fighters and Israeli army soldiers.

Since the start of 2023, Israeli forces have killed more than 190 Palestinians, including 26 children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The death toll includes 36 Palestinians, who lost their lives during a four-day Israeli army onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip between May 9 and 13.

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