At least 10 killed as Israel intensifies attacks on Jenin

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Israeli forces intensified their attacks on Jenin camp on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and wounding others. The Israeli operation in the occupied Palestinian territory, involving soldiers, police and intelligence services, began just two days after a ceasefire went into effect in Gaza.

Those wounded on Tuesday arrived at Ibn Sina, Al Amal and Al Shifa hospitals in the West Bank city, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.

Dr Wissam Bakr, director of Jenin Public Hospital, said a doctor was among those injured, the Wafa news agency reported. Calling it a “total raid”, Palestine Red Crescent spokesman Ahmad Jibril told The National: “There are several people killed and wounded and some that we're unable to reach.”

Israel has named the Jenin operation “Iron Wall”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the Shin Bet security agency and Israeli police launched the attacks after a cabinet meeting. “We are acting systematically and resolutely against the Iranian axis wherever it extends its arms,” a statement said.

Security officers controlled by the Palestinian Authority have been conducting an operation to root out armed groups in Jenin for weeks, engaging in gunfights in the streets.

“Palestinian security forces are stationed on the outskirts of the camp, and the Israeli forces are stationed at the camp. We can't even evacuate the elderly without them being shot at,” camp resident Musab Al Sabbagh told The National.

His sister Shatha Al Sabbagh, a journalist, was reportedly shot dead by Palestinian security forces in the camp last month. The Palestinian Authority denies the accusations and has blamed armed groups for her death.

“This is not a war, this is more than war,” Mr Al Sabbagh said.

Residents and the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported tanks in the area. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, has called on people in the West Bank to confront Israeli forces in Jenin and “escalate the clash with the occupation army”. The group expressed “surprise” that Palestinian security forces had withdrawn from areas near the Jenin camp as Israeli forces were beginning their raid.

“This military operation launched by the occupation in Jenin will fail, as all its previous military operations against our steadfast people and their valiant resistance have failed,” Hamas said.

The operation comes amid a hardening stance by Israel's far-right government about the security situation in the West Bank. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler, said in a post on X that “after Gaza and Lebanon, today, with God's help, we have begun changing the security perception” in the West Bank, “and in the campaign to eradicate terrorism in the region”.

“Iron Wall will be a strong and ongoing campaign against the elements of terrorism and its perpetrators, to protect the settlement and the settlers, and for the security of the entire state of Israel, of which the settlement is the security belt,” Mr Smotrich said.

He said the operation was part of “war goals that were added” after demands from his political party, Religious Zionism, which has advocated strong military actions throughout the Gaza war.

Far-right ministers such as Mr Smotrich and his political ally, former national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have come under fierce criticism from their base since the Israeli government approved a ceasefire deal with Hamas last week. Opponents of the deal say the release of hundreds of Palestinians from Israeli prisons, in exchange for about 100 hostages held in Gaza, endangers national security and that the military's withdrawal from the coastal Palestinian enclave threatens the dream of many settlers to reoccupy it.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israeli settlements were coming under increased threat because “our enemies recognise now that [the occupied West Bank] is the only arena that is open today”.

“We are committed and the [military] is committed, in accordance with my directive, to act forcefully to protect all the settlers and settlements against Palestinian terrorism,” Mr Katz said.