Eyewitnesses reported violent exchanges of fire between Palestinian militants and Israeli soldiers after they surrounded a house in the Jenin refugee camp. Rockets were also fired at the house. The army confirmed the use of “portable rocket launchers”. A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the missile launch an act of “total war.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the other hand, said in a video message with regard to the 49-year-old dead man that the country’s soldiers had “eliminated the heinous terrorist”. “Whoever harms us will pay the price,” he continues.
The Israeli army and the domestic intelligence service Shin Bet also announced that there had been a second operation in the Nablus refugee camp. Two of the sons of the 49-year-old suspected terrorist were arrested, who are suspected of planning and helping with the “terrorist attack”.
The spokesman for the Palestinian Presidential Office blamed Israel for a “dangerous escalation” that threatens to aggravate the situation and threaten to destroy all efforts to increase stability. The radical Islamist group Hamas condemned the killing of the six men, saying it would “only make the Palestinians more determined.”
Similar statements were made by Abbas’s Fatah party and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group. Both implied that Palestinian security forces took part in the fighting against the Israeli army.
Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been escalating for weeks, with the Israeli army taking action against militant Palestinians, especially in the West Bank. The city of Jenin in the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank is a frequent scene of violence between Israel and the Palestinians.
On February 26, two young Israeli settlers were killed in the Palestinian town of Huwara in the West Bank. According to the Palestinian Red Cross, hundreds of Palestinians were injured in the subsequent riots by Israeli settlers and several houses were set on fire.
Since the beginning of the year, 71 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, including militants and civilians. 13 Israelis were killed, including armed security forces and civilians.
about/yb
