JENIN: Israeli forces launched drone strikes in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin for the second time in less than two weeks overnight on Monday, carrying out an ongoing large-scale attack that involved a missile.
With the sounds of gunfire and explosives heard across the city hours after the strike and drones clearly audible overhead, the Jenin Brigades, a unit made up of different groups based in the city’s large refugee camp, said it was engaging the Israeli forces.
At least six drones could be seen circling over the city and the adjoining densely populated camp. A convoy of dozens of Israeli armoured vehicles also surrounded the refugee camp from all sides and launched a ground military operation, causing heavy damage to homes and roads.
The Palestinian health ministry confirmed at least three people had been killed and 27 wounded in Jenin, while another man was killed in the city of Ramallah after being shot in the head at a checkpoint.
The Israeli military said its forces struck a building that served as a command centre for fighters from the Jenin Brigades in what it described as an extensive counterterrorism effort in the West Bank.
The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry said on Monday morning it “condemns in the strongest terms the barbaric aggression of the occupation against our people in Jenin and its camp”, and held the Israeli government responsible.
It noted that the Israeli aggression targeted “defenseless civilians, including targeting ambulances, crews, and health centers, depriving them of treating the wounded, targeting mosques and homes, and destroying infrastructure”.
The ministry said it “calls for urgent international and American intervention to stop the aggression immediately, and calls on the International Criminal Court to break its silence and start holding the Israeli war criminals accountable”.
As daylight broke on Monday in Jenin, thick black smoke from burning tyres set alight by residents swirled through the streets while calls to support the fighters rang out from loudspeakers in mosques.
A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the operation “a new war crime against our defenceless people.” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said his forces were “closely monitoring the conduct of our enemies. “The defence establishment is ready for all scenarios.”
