Israel’s army ends West Bank raid

Israel’s army yesterday declared the end of a large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank that killed 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier over the previous two days.

The raid, involving hundreds of forces, drone strikes and armoured bulldozers, targeted the northern West Bank city of Jenin, a centre for multiple armed Palestinian groups.

Amid the days of violence, a Palestinian attacker in Tel Aviv on Tuesday wounded seven Israelis, two seriously, in a car ramming and stabbing attack before an armed civilian shot him dead.

And overnight, Israel carried out air strikes on targets inside the blockaded Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian coastal enclave, with no deaths reported.

As the army pulled out of Jenin from late Tuesday, much of the crowded city was left charred and in rubble from the incursion which displaced at least 3,000 residents.

Its adjacent refugee camp, a tiny area home to 18,000 people, has long been a stronghold of militant groups including Islamic Jihad and Hamas.

“The operation is officially over and the soldiers have left the Jenin area,” said an army spokesman yesterday after columns of armoured vehicles were seen withdrawing.

In Jenin yesterday, thousands of mourners joined a funeral procession for the slain Palestinians, an AFP correspondent reported.

Militants fired in the air as the bodies were carried through the streets, which were covered in debris from the violence. “In our souls and blood, we will sacrifice for you, martyr,” the crowd chanted.

Jenin residents inspected the widespread destruction in the camp, where gaping holes were torn into buildings, cars were crushed and the ground was littered with bullet casings and broken glass.

Israel’s right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has labelled Jenin and its refugee camp a “terrorist nest”, and the army said it had seized arms and explosives depots and militant logistic sites.

The Palestinians labelled the escalation “open war against the people of Jenin”.