Palestinian official says hundreds leave Jenin as Israel presses raid

JENIN: A Palestinian official said hundreds of people began leaving their homes in a flashpoint area of the West Bank on Thursday as Israeli forces pressed a deadly operation there.

The Israeli military launched this week a raid in the Jenin area, days into a ceasefire in the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the objective of the operation, dubbed “Iron Wall”, was to “eradicate terrorism” in the area.

He linked the operation to a broader strategy of countering Iran “wherever it sends its arms – in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen” and the West Bank.

The Israeli government has accused Iran, which supports armed groups across the Middle East, including Hamas in Gaza, of attempting to funnel weapons and funds to the Palestinian group in the occupied Palestinian territory.

“Hundreds of camp residents have begun leaving after the Israeli army, using loudspeakers on drones and military vehicles, ordered them to evacuate the camp,” Jenin governor Kamal Abu al-Rub told AFP.

The Israeli army told AFP that it was “unaware of any evacuation orders for residents in Jenin as of now”.

Since it began on Tuesday, the operation has killed at least 10 Palestinians and injured 40 more in the Jenin area, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

“There are dozens of camp residents who have begun to leave,” Jenin resident Salim Saadi said.

Shooting, explosions in Jenin as Israel presses raid

“The army is in front of my house. They could enter at any moment.”

Israeli forces have also detained several Palestinians from the Jenin area, with an AFP photographer seeing a row of blindfolded men in white jumpsuits being transported out of the West Bank.

Drones

Palestinians had already begun fleeing the Jenin area on foot on Wednesday, with AFPTV images showing a group of men, women and children making their way down a muddy road, the sound of drones buzzing above them clearly audible.

The Israeli military said Thursday it killed two Palestinian fighters near Jenin during the night, accusing them of murdering three Israelis.

In a statement, the military said that Israeli forces found the two fighters barricaded in a house in the village of Burqin.

“After an exchange of fire, they were eliminated by the forces,” it said, adding one soldier was injured in the gunfight.

The two men were wanted for the killing of three Israelis and wounding of six others in a January 6 an attack on a bus in the West Bank.

Violence has surged throughout the occupied West Bank since the Gaza war erupted on October 7, 2023 with Hamas’s attack on southern Israel.

According to the Palestinian health ministry, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 850 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war began.

During the same period, at least 29 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations in the territory, according to official Israeli figures.

The Jenin raid began days after a truce took effect in Gaza on Sunday, after 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas.

‘Unwavering support’

Under the fragile truce agreement, three Israeli women hostages held by the group in Gaza since 2023 returned home, in exchange for the release from Israeli jails of around 90 Palestinian prisoners.

On Sunday, the two sides should undertake a second swap.

As part of the first phase of the ceasefire, which is intended to last 42 days, Israeli forces are withdrawing from densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had killed a fighter in Gaza from the Hamas-allied movement Islamic Jihad, the first such reported death since the start of the truce.

The military said it was abiding by the terms of the ceasefire, saying it was “determined to fully maintain the terms of the agreement in order to return the hostages”.

The ceasefire followed months of fruitless negotiations mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt.

US President Donald Trump has taken credit for finally clinching the deal, having sent an envoy to help push through an agreement before he took office.

On Wednesday, Marco Rubio, the new top US diplomat reaffirmed his administration’s “unwavering support” for Israel.

Rubio spoke to Israel’s Netanyahu from Washington on Wednesday night to “underscore that maintaining the United States’ steadfast support for Israel is a top priority for President Trump,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.

In one of his first acts in office, Trump ended sanctions on extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank imposed by Biden over their attacks on Palestinians.