A burned-out car in a courtyard after the Israeli army’s raid on the West Bank city of Jenin on July 5, 2023. The Israeli army announced the withdrawal of its soldiers from Jenin, after launching a large-scale operation on July 3 of July. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, all 13 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured in the attack. EFE/EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
The Israeli Army completed this morning the withdrawal of its troops from the refugee camp in Yenínwho was completely devastated, and ended the large-scale military operation unprecedented in two decades in the occupied West Bank, which has resulted in the death of 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier.
“The forces that operated in the Jenin camp have left and the Army has returned to its routine activity in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank),” a military official confirmed to EFE about the end of the “House and Garden” operation, which it lasted 48 hours as a “broad counterterrorism effort.”
The incursion into the Jenin countryside, a historic stronghold of the Palestinian militia movement, involved ground troops and aircraft for the first time in almost two decades, making it the largest in the occupied West Bank since the Second Intifada (2000-2005). focused this time on dismantling the Jenin Brigade, which brings together the militias of all the factions united since last year, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
In two days, Israel has detained more than 120 suspects, seized numerous weapons and dismantled dozens of command centers, weapons warehouses and explosives factories in the countryside, which it considers “the biggest focus of terrorism in the area”where more than 50 attacks against Israeli targets have been planned in the past year.
victims
The operation ends with the death of 12 Palestinians between the ages of 17 and 23, almost all militants but also four minors, and 120 injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health; in addition to a casualty in the Israeli ranks, First Sergeant David Yehuda Yitzhak by a shot during the withdrawal that could have been “friendly fire”.
The spokesman for the Israeli Army, Daniel Hagari, justified the end of the incursion because “all the objectives have been achieved”, although the Palestinian groups believe the opposite and the Islamist movement Hamas accused Israel of “having been defeated by the fighters of Jenin».
“The Army Withdrew From Its Inhuman Aggression Against Jenin With Zero Achievements”said the Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Hazam Qasam; while the Deputy Secretary General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PYP), Mohamed al Hindi, accused Israel of “exaggerate his statements about the confiscation of weapons and the dismantling of explosives factories”.
As the troops left Jenin this morning, Palestinian militias in Gaza fired five rockets at Israel, all interceptedwhat Israeli aviation responded by bombing military installations of Hamas, which governs the Stripwhere it does not seem that the situation will escalate further.
shootings
It also happened today a shootout provoked by Palestinian gunmen against an Israeli military post in the northern West Bank, near Nablus, without casualtiesand the Army is looking for the suspects.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant congratulated the security forces who “operated with extraordinary precision, professionalism and courage.” “They sent a clear message: terrorists have nowhere to hide”he added.
“The operation has been a success,” considered the former deputy director of the National Security Council, retired colonel Itamar Yaar, not only in terms of the “amount of military infrastructure found and dismantled”, but also as a “deterrent”.
Palestinian Authority
After the withdrawal, there has been no reaction from a weakened and discredited Palestinian Authority -which rules in Jenin-, although Yaar indicated that the Israeli military campaign is “an opportunity” for this entity, led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, to regain lost control in that area dominated by “extremist groups.”
“Although they do not publicly acknowledge it and even condemn the operation, what happened is in the Palestinian Authority’s interest so that its security forces can gain ground over other groups such as Hamas”he explained.
Around 3,000 residents of the Jenin camp who fled the fighting returned today to the place, which has again been completely devastated, with many houses destroyed, streets with raised asphalt, glass on the ground and remains of blood and shrapnel; and still without water or electricity in some areas.
The camp houses some 20,000 Palestinians in half a square kilometer -more than half are minors-, refugees from territories seized by Israel in 1948, and was the scene of the bloodiest episode of the Second Intifadawhen an Israeli raid in April 2002 killed 52 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers in ten days of fighting.
New armed groups
The occupied West Bank experiences its highest peak of violence since the Second Intifada And this 2023, 156 Palestinians have already died in the framework of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, most of them militants in armed clashes with Israeli troops and attackers, but also civilians, including 27 minors.
In parallel, the area has seen the proliferation of new Palestinian armed groups, which carry out more and more attacks and have left 26 dead on the Israeli side, most of them settlers, five of them minors, and one soldier. EFE
Israeli soldiers stand at the security fence next to the West Bank city of Jenin on July 4, 2023. The Israeli army declared on July 3 that it launched a large-scale operation in Jenin. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least ten people were killed and dozens more injured in the raid, adding that the death toll is likely to rise. EFE/EPA/ATEF SAFADI A multiple outrage in Tel Aviv, carried out by a Palestinian. All the victims are Israelis. July 4, 2023. Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Jenin, West Bank, on July 3, 2023. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on July 3 that it has launched a large-scale operation in Jenin. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least eight people were killed and dozens more injured in the Jenin raid, adding that the death toll is likely to rise. EFE/EPA/ALAA BADARNEH