RAMALLAH: Israeli drones fitted with loudspeakers ordered people to leave their homes in Jenin on Thursday, residents said, as the military demolished a number of houses on the third day of a major operation in the West Bank city.
The operation, involving large columns of vehicles backed by helicopters and drones, was launched in the first week of a ceasefire in Gaza that saw the first exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails since a brief truce in November 2023.
Israeli officials said the Jenin operation was aimed at what the military said were Iranian-backed militant groups in the refugee camp adjacent to the city, a major hub for armed Palestinian groups for years.
“We need to be prepared to continue in the Jenin camp that will bring it to a different place,” Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the head of the Israeli military, said in a statement.
Armored bulldozers have dug up roads and hundreds of people left their homes in the camp, after residents said they were ordered to evacuate.
“Yesterday, we did not want to leave, we were at home,” said 16-year-old Hussam Saadi. “Today, they sent down a drone to our neighborhood, telling us to leave the camp and that they will blow it up.”
The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Overnight on Wednesday, Israeli troops killed two armed men barricaded inside a building in Burqin, outside Jenin, after a gunfight. The two were suspected of carrying out an attack near the Palestinian village of Al-Funduq earlier this month, in which three Israelis were killed.
Both were claimed by the armed wing of Hamas, which has a strong presence in the refugee camp, a crowded township for descendants of Palestinians who fled, or were forced, from their homes in the 1948 Middle East war.
Overall since the start of the operation, 12 Palestinians have been killed and 40 more wounded, Palestinian health officials said.
The raid, the third major operation by the Israeli military in Jenin in under two years, drew warnings from France and Jordan against an escalation in the West Bank, which has seen a surge in violence since the start of the war in Gaza.
Residents leave homes in Jenin as Israeli West Bank raid continues
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Residents leave homes in Jenin as Israeli West Bank raid continues
- Overall since the start of the operation, 12 Palestinians have been killed and 40 more wounded, Palestinian health officials said
Israeli military says has struck 6 ‘military airfields’ in Iran
- The strikes appeared to include attacks announced on Saturday on Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport
- Israel and the United States say that they have largely gained control of Iranian skies since February 28
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military on Monday said it had completed a “wave of strikes against six military airfields” in Iran as part of efforts to solidify its air superiority over the Islamic republic.
“Numerous aircraft were dismantled, including Quds Force aircraft belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian combat helicopters,” the military said.
“In addition, runways and defense and detection systems intended to operate against (Israeli air force) aircraft operating in Iranian airspace were struck.”
The strikes appeared to include attacks announced on Saturday on Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport, that the Israeli military said destroyed 16 aircraft used by the Revolutionary Guards.
Israel and the United States say that they have largely gained control of Iranian skies since launching their bombing campaign on February 28, sparking the Middle East war.
