At least seven Palestinians have died and 28 have been injured in an attack by Israel on the West Bank, with the death toll expected to rise, according to the Palestinian health ministry
Israel launched a huge raid in Palestine today and used drone strikes on a refugee camp in its biggest West Bank incursion in 20 years.
At least eight Palestinians were killed and 28 injured in the attack but the death toll is expected to rise, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
In a separate incident, a 21-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire near the West Bank city of Ramallah, the ministry said.
A brigade of Israeli troops – usually around 1,000 to 2,000 soldiers – entered the city and it was the first time airstrikes had been used since the Second Intifada, around 20 years.
An injured Palestinian is carried into a hospital during an Israeli military raid (
AP)
While Israel described the attack as a pinpoint operation to target militants, smoke was seen billowing from within crowded civilian areas.
Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, praised the efforts of the military and accused Iran of being behind the violence by funding Palestinian militant groups.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that it launched an “extensive counterterrorism effort in the area of the city of Jenin and the Jenin Camp”, striking “terrorist infrastructure.”
But Palestinians reject these claims, saying the violence is a response to 56 years of occupation by Israel since it captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war.
A spokesperson for the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, called the operation “a new war crime against our defenceless people.”
Smoke billows during an Israeli army operation in Jenin (
AFP via Getty Images)
Black smoke rose from the crowded streets of the Jenin refugee camp and residents said electricity was cut off in some parts.
Military bulldozers also ploughed through narrow streets, damaging buildings as they cleared the way for Israeli forces in another reminder of the last uprising.
Monday’s raid came two weeks after another violent confrontation in Jenin and after the military said a pair of rockets were fired from the area last week.
More than 130 Palestinians have been killed this year in the West Bank, part of more than a year-long spike in violence that has seen some of the worst bloodshed in the area in nearly two decades.
Palestinian youths run for cover during the Israeli military operation (
AFP via Getty Images)
Are they saving Palestine as a little outpost of Kazaria?
Or maybe it’s just about pipelines and water ways.
.