The Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin has ended, the Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday, as the United Nations expressed deep concern over violence in the city’s sprawling refugee camp.
“All forces left Jenin. We have ended the operation – its objectives have been achieved,” Israeli forces spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told Israeli military radio station Galei Tzahal.
At least 12 people, aged between 16 and 23, were killed and dozens wounded after Israeli forces launched large-scale operations in the camp this week, Palestinian officials said.
Israel claims it targeted Palestinian terrorists and one of its soldiers was killed in the operation.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli forces said they had also carried out strikes in the Gaza Strip, in response to five rockets launched towards Israeli territory, all of which were intercepted.
Unicef, the UN children’s agency, said at least three children had died in Jenin, while many more had been injured in the ongoing clashes.
In an interview with CNN when the death toll was 11, Hagari claimed that no “non-combatants” were killed during the raid.
“We are now at the end of achieving our goals, within Jenin, fighting terror and dismantling terror in Jenin camp,” said Hagari. “We are achieving our objectives, and when we achieve our objectives, the forces will break out of camp.”
A video obtained by CNN shows Israeli military vehicles starting to withdraw from the occupied West Bank city, while other vehicles are seen entering.
Even after the initial announcement by Israeli forces that its troops had begun to withdraw, military operations appeared to continue on Tuesday, with Israeli forces saying an armed terrorist cell was targeted by an aircraft at a cemetery in the United States. outskirts of the city of Jenin.
The operation was carried out because the gunmen “posed a threat to the security forces leaving the Jenin camp”, added the Israeli forces.
In Gaza, Israel said it carried out a targeted airstrike on an “underground weapons production site” used by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. A site involved in the production of raw materials for Hamas rockets was also targeted.
“This attack constitutes damage to the ability of the terrorist organization Hamas to strengthen and arm itself,” Israeli forces said on social media.
Gaza, an isolated enclave on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, is located in the landlocked southwest of the West Bank.
Earlier, Hamas said a car attack and stabbing in Tel Aviv on Tuesday was carried out by one of its fighters and was a response to Israel’s operation in Jenin.
Eight people were injured in the attack near a Tel Aviv shopping mall, said Israeli officials, who saw the assailant emerge from the crashed vehicle and continue to stab civilians.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk called for an end to “murder, maiming and destruction of property”.
“The recent operation in the occupied West Bank and the car attack in Tel Aviv disturbingly emphasize a very familiar pattern of events: that violence only breeds more violence,” a statement said.
“The scale of the Israel Security Forces’ ongoing operation in Jenin, including the use of repeated airstrikes, along with the destruction of property, raises a number of serious questions with regard to international human rights norms and standards, including protection and respect for the right to life,” he added.
Türk said that “some of the methods and weapons used during Israeli Security Forces operations in Jenin Refugee Camp and surrounding areas are more generally associated with the conduct of hostilities in armed conflict, rather than law enforcement.”
He called on Israeli forces to “comply with international human rights standards”, which “do not change simply because the objective of the operation is declared to be ‘counterterrorism’”.
In a statement, the head of Hamas’s political department, Ismail Haniyeh, said: “The Israeli occupation army withdrew from the Jenin refugee camp with its tail between its legs.”
“All options to support the Jenin camp are on the table,” said Haniyeh. “Resistance remains the strategic option of the Palestinian people to confront Israeli aggression and end the occupation.”
The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad said on Wednesday that the “Palestinian people have won a great victory in defeating the aggression against Jenin and its camp”.
increase in victims
A police spokesman described the car crash on Pinchas Rosen Street in northern Tel Aviv as a “terrorist attack” and told the CNN that the driver was killed by an armed civilian.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack, saying that “anyone who thinks that such an attack will prevent us from continuing our fight against terrorism is mistaken. He is simply not familiar with the spirit of the State of Israel, our government, our citizens and our soldiers.”
In Jenin, a total of 117 people were injured in the refugee camp due to the ongoing operation by Israeli forces, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said on Tuesday. Among these injuries, there are 12 reported as severe and 33 as moderate. Israeli forces recognize civilians among the wounded.
Thousands remain outside their homes after leaving overnight to avoid damage. Damage in the countryside is extensive, with some roads destroyed when Israeli bulldozers disarmed the improvised explosive devices and much damage to homes and cars as a result of the clashes.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Deputy Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, urged the United States to help de-escalate the situation, in an interview with Eleni Giokos of CNN on Tuesday.
“The Americans must interfere because Israel must be stopped by the Americans, immediately. Otherwise, the situation is very risky, very dangerous for them and for us”, in an interview with the news anchor. CNN Eleni Giokos on Tuesday.
Rudeineh said that “the Israeli army was attacking Palestinian citizens” and added: “What happened yesterday was completely dangerous.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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