Amid mounting confrontations in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military has launched an attack on the Palestinian city of Jenin. The attack was directed against “terrorist infrastructure,” the army said on Twitter that night. According to Israeli media reports, a large-scale offensive called “Home and Garden” was heralded in airstrikes, in which at least one Palestinian was killed. A refugee camp described by the army as a “terrorist stronghold” was also targeted.
The airstrikes hit, among other things, a command and communications center used as a weapons storage facility, a meeting place for terrorists and an observation post, the army and the Israeli domestic intelligence service Shin Bet said in a statement quoted by the Jerusalem Post. According to the report, there were power outages across Jenin. According to Palestinian sources, shortly after the airstrikes, Israel’s army entered the city with many soldiers fighting with militant Palestinians.
The security situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories has been tense for a long time and recently worsened again. After two Palestinians killed four Israelis in the West Bank almost two weeks ago, angry Israeli settlers repeatedly used violence against Palestinians there. In the first targeted airstrike in years in the occupied area, three Palestinians were killed with a military drone after shots were allegedly fired from their vehicle at an Israeli border crossing.
More than two dozen people have died in attacks since the beginning of the year. In the same period, about six times as many Palestinians were shot in confrontations, Israeli military operations or after their own attacks. Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War. The Palestinians claim the areas for their own state.
