Israel’s army continued military operations in the Jenin refugee camp on Tuesday. The aim of the largest army operation in the Palestinian West Bank for almost 20 years is to kill or arrest fighters entrenched there and to track down their weapons depots. In the midst of the fighting, several thousand Palestinians have left the camp. The fact that the violence is spreading was shown on Tuesday afternoon by a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv that injured seven, which Hamas described as the “first reaction” to the military operation in Jenin.
The perpetrator reportedly drove a pickup truck into a crowd at a bus stop. A video shows him getting out, chasing passers-by and attacking them with a sharp object. According to police, he was shot dead at the scene by an armed civilian.
The mayor speaks of brutal expulsions. The army denies
The domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet identified the perpetrator as a 20-year-old Palestinian from a village near Hebron in the southern West Bank. Without directly acknowledging the crime, a Hamas spokesman said the attack was a sign that “the occupation will pay the price for the crimes committed in Jenin.” Israeli police chief Kobi Schabtai called on the Israeli population at the site of the attack to be more vigilant.
The Palestinian Health Ministry on Tuesday increased the number of Palestinians killed in Jenin to ten. More than 100 people were injured in the fighting, around 20 of them seriously. Israel’s army presented photos of large quantities of confiscated weapons as evidence of a successful operation. Hundreds of booby traps and thousands of grenades were discovered, as well as three bomb-making laboratories. Particular attention was paid to an arms depot that had been laid out in two shafts below a mosque.
The perpetrator drove a pickup truck into a group of people waiting at a bus stop in Tel Aviv, injuring seven people.
(Photo: Amir Levy/Getty)
Images also caused a stir that showed large groups of people leaving the refugee camp at night. Jenin Mayor Nidal Obeidi said 3,000 to 4,000 residents had been brutally evicted from their homes with threats of death. An Israeli army spokesman categorically denied that there had been any eviction or an order to evacuate. However, the conditions in the refugee camp, where 17,000 people live tightly packed, appear increasingly catastrophic. Water and electricity supply are said to have collapsed there.
Anyone who kills an Israeli belongs “in jail or in the grave,” says the prime minister
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued the slogan that Jenin should no longer remain a “terrorist haven”. A “new equation” must be enforced. “Anyone who kills an Israeli belongs either in prison or in the grave,” he said. “In these moments we complete the mission,” Netanyahu said on Tuesday evening, according to media reports, during a visit to a military post near Jenin. Nevertheless, he made it clear that the action was “not a one-off process, we will continue as long as necessary”.
Several Palestinian organizations in the West Bank and East Jerusalem called a one-day general strike to protest the Israeli military operation in Jenin. After a crisis meeting, President Mahmoud Abbas’ autonomy authority declared that there would be no more security cooperation with Israel. However, the Palestinians had made similar announcements several times in the past – and in fact did not implement them. Because the Palestinian organizations active in places like the Jenin refugee camp, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, also threaten Abbas’ power. Its security forces should actually ensure peace and order there, but they lost control long ago.