4 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid on West Bank militant stronghold | Wagon Radio 720

JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli drones struck targets at militant strongholds in the occupied West Bank in the early hours of Monday, as hundreds of troops were deployed in the area, but the invasion took place on 20 March. It resembled the large-scale military operations during the second Palestinian uprising a year earlier. . At least four Palestinians have died, Palestinian health officials said.

Troops remained inside the Jenin refugee camp early Monday morning in what was the largest operation in the region in more than a year of fighting. This comes at a time of heightened domestic pressure for a tough response to a series of attacks on Israeli settlers, including last week’s shootings that killed four people.

Black smoke rose from the crowded streets of the camp as the army advanced. According to Palestinian media reports, the operation disrupted the lives of locals, cut off electricity in some areas, and military bulldozers were seen driving through narrow streets, also during the previous uprising. It was a reminder of the Israeli invasion of Palestinians condemned the violence.

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht said the operation began shortly after 1 a.m. with airstrikes on buildings used by the militants to plan their attacks. He said the purpose of the operation was to destroy and seize weapons.

“We are not going to hold a position,” he said. “We are working towards a specific goal.”

He said a brigade-sized force — about 2,000 soldiers — was involved in the operation, and military drones launched a series of strikes to clear the way for ground forces. Israel has carried out solo airstrikes in the West Bank in recent weeks, but Monday’s string of airstrikes marked an intensification not seen since the end of the Palestinian uprising in 2006, Hecht said.

Israel described the attack as a pinpoint operation, but videos on Palestinian social media showed large plumes of white smoke rising from a crowded area near a mosque minaret. Other videos showed an injured man being carried on a stretcher to a hospital and another being carried away by a group of men.

According to Palestinian state news agency Wafa, the army has blocked roads in the camp, occupied houses and buildings, and set up snipers on rooftops. The agency also said the military had cut off electricity in a large area inside the camp and military bulldozers caused property damage.

At least three Palestinians were killed and 13 wounded, three of them in critical condition, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in the early hours of Monday. Hecht said up to seven militants were believed to have died.

In another incident, a 21-year-old Palestinian died in an Israeli army fire near Ramallah in the West Bank, the ministry said.

“In the face of this brutal aggression, our Palestinian people will not kneel, will not surrender, will not raise the white flag, will stand on their land,” said Nabil Abu Rudyneh, spokesman for the Palestinian President, in a statement. I will remain firm,” he said. .

Jenin Camp and the neighboring town of the same name have been a flashpoint in the escalating violence between Israel and Palestine since spring 2022. Jenin has long been a focal point of the armed struggle against Israel and was a major point of friction during the last Palestinian uprising.

In 2002, just days after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 30 people during a mass Passover rally, Israeli forces launched a major operation in Jenin camp. For eight days and nights they fought the insurgents street by street, using armored bulldozers to demolish rows of houses, many of which were set in traps.

Monday’s raid came two weeks after another violent clash in Jenin, after the military said rockets were fired from the area last week and landed in the West Bank.

“Over the past year there has been a lot of power around Jenin,” Hecht defended Monday’s tactics. “It’s intensifying all the time.”

However, there may have been political considerations. Key members of Israel’s far-right government, which is dominated by West Bank settlers and their supporters, are calling for a broad military response to the ongoing violence in the region.

“I am proud of our heroes on all fronts, and especially our soldiers who are active this morning in Jenin,” said an ultranationalist and extremist who recently sent “thousands” of militants to Israel as needed. Itamar Ben Guvir, the Minister of National Security, tweeted, calling for the killing of “I wish them all the best.”

Monday’s death brings the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank this year to 132, but it was the worst in nearly two decades in the region following a spike in violence for more than a year. It’s part of the bloodshed going on.

Violence intensified last year after Israel stepped up its raids in the West Bank following a wave of Palestinian attacks.

Israel claims the raids are aimed at repelling militants. Palestinians argue that in the absence of a political process with Israel, increased settlement construction in the West Bank, and increased violence by extremist settlers, such violence is inevitable. there is They see the strengthening of the Israeli military presence in the region as strengthening Israel’s 56-year unrestricted occupation of the territory.

Israel says most of those killed were militants, but it also said it killed young people who threw stones to protest the invasion and people who were not involved in the clashes.

Since the beginning of the year, Palestinian attacks on Israelis have killed 24 people.

During the 1967 Middle East War, Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians want those territories for the independence they wanted.