Hundreds of families left the West Bank as Israel’s main offensive continued
Hundreds of residents of Jenin fled their homes in the West Bank city on Thursday, as the Israeli army began demolishing dozens of homes in the third day of a heavy-handed operation, prompted by loudspeaker drones.
The operation, which involved large vehicles supported by helicopters and drones, began in the first week of a ceasefire in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners held hostage by Israelis and held in Israeli jails for the first time since a brief truce in November 2023.
Israeli officials said the Jenin operation was targeting Iranian-backed militant groups in a refugee camp near the city that the military had held.
“We must be ready to continue in the Jenin camp, which will bring it to another place,” said Lt. Gen. In a statement issued by the Chief of the Israeli Army, Herzi Halevi.
Armed bulldozers dug up roads, making movement in the city difficult, but hundreds of people heeded the message to leave their homes, dragging suitcases or carrying their belongings in plastic bags.
“Yesterday we didn’t want to leave, we were at home,” said 16-year-old Hussam Saadi. Today they sent the drone to our camp and we will blow it up.
He denied that Israeli soldiers told residents to leave their homes. “It will allow any resident who chooses to leave the area to do so in safe and orderly ways under the protection of the Israeli security forces,” he said.
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As the operation continues, gunshots and drones flying overhead can be heard over the refugee camp. There was little movement in the streets of the city.
Footage released by the Israeli army shows soldiers detonating what appear to be roadside bombs.
On Wednesday night, Israeli soldiers shot and killed two armed men inside a building in Burkin, a suburb of Jenin. The two are suspected of carrying out an attack near the Palestinian village of Al-Fanduk earlier this month, in which three Israelis were killed.
Both are claimed by the armed wing of Hamas, which has a stronghold in the overcrowded refugee camps for Palestinians who fled their homes in the 1948 Middle East war.
In total, 12 Palestinians have been killed and 40 more wounded since the operation began, according to Palestinian health officials.
The raid, the Israeli army’s third major offensive in Jenin in less than two years, drew warnings from France and Jordan that the Israeli-controlled West Bank has been escalating in violence since the start of the Gaza war. .