Breaking: Israeli forces kill 9 Palestinians in Jenin raid

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SCENE OF THE DESTRUCTION IN JENIN REFUGEE CAMP ON THE MORNING OF THURSDAY JANUARY 26, 2023. (CREDIT: AYMAN NOBANI/ PHOTO VIA TELEGRAM)

Breaking: Israeli forces kill 9 Palestinians in Jenin raid
Israeli forces are launching an all-out assault on Jenin refugee camp, killing nine Palestinians as of 11:07 am today, January 26.
https://mondoweiss.net/2023/01/breaking-israeli-forces-kill-9-palestinians-in-jenin-raid/?

In a brutal assault on the Jenin refugee camp Thursday morning, Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians and injured over a dozen others, making it the deadliest day for Palestinians in 2023, and one of the single deadliest raids in the West Bank in years.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH), among those killed was an "elderly" woman identified as Magda Obaid, 60. Two of the others killed were identified as Saeb Izreiqi, 24, and Izzidin Salahat, 26.

The ministry reported that more than 20 people were injured, including four in critical condition. Among the injuries were gunshot wounds to the chest, abdomen, and lower extremities.

Though the identities of the remaining six slain Palestinians were being reported by local media, their names had not yet been confirmed by the MOH as of Thursday afternoon.

Minister of Health Mai al-Kaileh said in a statement that Israeli forces "hampered" ambulances from evacuating the wounded from the camp during the raid, and restricted the access of medics to the camp. Local media reported that some ambulances were shot at.

Al-Kaileh added that Israeli forces fired tear gas towards the pediatric unit of the Jenin Government Hospital, causing suffocation cases from gas inhalation among patients at the hospital, including mothers and children.

"We deplore in the storingest terms what happened...in terms of a fierce and barbaric attack against medical and emergency personnel, and the obstruction of their work in transporting the injured and treating patients," al-Kaileh said.

The raid
The raid began around 7:15 am on Thursday morning, when undercover Israeli special forces entered the camp in a commercial truck. According to local sources, the special forces were targeting the apartment of Alaa Sabbagh, a former leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Fatah's armed wing, who was killed by Israeli forces in the camp in 2002.

Sabbagh's home was reportedly being used by a number of fighters affiliated with the Jenin Brigade, an armed resistance group from the camp composed of fighters from various political factions.

Israeli forces fired rocket launchers and other explosives at the apartment building, causing the fighters inside to respond with live ammunition. The attack on the apartment also sparked clashes in the surrounding areas, with armed fighters firing towards the Israeli troops.

Shortly after the operation began, "hundreds" of Israeli troops raided the area, with a convoy of military jeeps and bulldozers entering the boundaries of the camp. Sources told Mondoweiss that as the bulldozers moved through the streets, they destroyed cars parked in the area and "everything in their wake."

The troops entered the camp from the north, south, and western entrances of the camp, Mohammad Abed, a local journalist told Mondoweiss. He added that Israeli forces closed off all the entrances and exits of the camp, preventing anyone from moving in or out.

Abed said that Israeli forces "completely destroyed and ransacked" the local community center in the camp, which is used by residents for community gatherings, funerals, and other events.

He added that at least three people were killed inside the Sabbagh family apartment building. "The building is completely destroyed, due to the sheer number of bombs and explosives fired towards it" he said.

The Israeli army released a statement saying that its forces "were active in the Jenin refugee camp", under the pretext of searching for fighters with the Islamic Jihad movement. The army claimed the raid was conducted to "foil imminent attack plans" by fighters in the camp.

No Israeli forces were injured during the assault, Israeli media reported.

The local branch of the Islamic Jihad movement said its fighters responded to Israeli forces with live fire and explosives.

'A real massacre'
Israeli forces began pulling out of the camp around noon, close to five hours after the raid began, leaving devastation and destruction in their wake.

Videos posted on social media show rubble strewn across the street of the camp, bombed out buildings, and damaged vehicles, including cars that had been flipped over by Israeli bulldozers.

"It was a massacre, a real massacre," Abed told Mondoweiss, saying that it was the worst and most violent" raid he had seen on the camp in years.

"There was another raid last year on the camp that lasted several hours, but this one is not even comparable. Nine people were killed. That is not an insignificant number," he said.

Abed added that Israeli forces were "shooting everywhere," not just towards resistance fighters who were engaging in shootouts with the army. "They were shooting at anything that moved. This is evidenced by the 60 year old woman who was killed. How can you explain that?"

Israeli media reported that the army was "launching an investigation" into the death of Magda Obaid, the woman who was killed.

The raid on Thursday brought the death toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire this month to 29. Less than 24 hours prior, on Wednesday January 25, two Palestinians were killed in separate incidents in the West Bank and Jerusalem, including 20-year-old Aref Lahlouh, a resident of the Jenin refugee camp.

The first month of 2023 has witnessed a steep increase in the average number of Palestinians killed compared to previous years. In the first month of 2023, more Palestinians were killed than in the first three months of 2022 combined.

2022 was one of the deadliest years for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in decades, with 173 Palestinians killed in the territory. According to Mondoweiss documentation, 34% of the total casualties in the West Bank in 2022 were from Jenin.

The particularly high number of killings in the northern West Bank city can be attributed to the resurgence of armed resistance witnessed in the area, which the Israeli military focused its efforts on quashing last year.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFy4lzaB8jc

There's a long Al-Jazeera with a lot of pictures here:
Israel army kills 10 Palestinians, including elderly woman
At least 20 others were injured with live ammunition during a large-scale raid on Jenin refugee camp.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/26/israeli-raid-kills-three-palestinians-in-jenin-fighting

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Israel bombs Gaza following deadly raid
The violent flare-up came after nine Palestinians were killed in a refugee camp in Jenin
https://www.rt.com/news/570539-israel-bombs-gaza-raid/

Israel has carried out airstrikes on an alleged "military site" in the Gaza Strip, claiming the mission was a response to rockets fired from the area. Palestinian officials accused Israeli troops of a "massacre" in the occupied West Bank earlier in the day, with militant groups vowing to retaliate.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the strikes early on Friday morning, saying it targeted an "underground" facility used to produce rockets for Hamas, the political party and armed faction that has ruled Gaza since 2007.

"The attack was carried out in response to the launch of rockets earlier tonight from the Gaza Strip into Israel, which were intercepted by air defense fighters," the military said, adding that the strikes resulted in "significant damage to the strengthening and arming of Hamas."

At least five rockets were fired toward Israel overnight, according to the IDF. Three were intercepted, one landed in an open area and another fell short inside Gaza. The launches prompted air raid sirens in settlements bordering the Palestinian enclave, including the city of Ashkelon just north of Gaza.

The rocket salvo followed an Israeli special forces raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank on Thursday, which ended in a shootout with militants and left nine Palestinians dead, among them a 61-year-old woman, according to the Palestinian Authority.

The IDF said the operation targeted an Islamic Jihad terrorist faction active in Jenin and shared footage purporting to show gunmen firing rifles and throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli troops, claiming the terror cell was a "ticking time bomb."

The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited control in the occupied West Bank, denounced the operation as a "massacre," saying it would halt all security cooperation with Israel in response.

"Security coordination with the occupation government no longer exists as of now," Palestinian Authority Deputy Prime Minister Nabil Abu Rudeineh said, adding that the decision was made in light of "the repeated aggression against our people, and the undermining of signed agreements, in reference to commitments from the Oslo peace process in the 1990s."

Video clips circulating in local media showed the aftermath of the refugee camp raid, with residents seen picking through rubble and burned out buildings in Jenin. According to the Associated Press, the attack was the single deadliest raid in the West Bank in more than two decades.

https://twitter.com/rajeentv/status/1618561091973545985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1618561091973545985%7Ctwgr%5Ee95564c94c624e78f9ecf966f8c84c853c298fc9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fnews%2F570539-israel-bombs-gaza-raid%2F

Hamas declared that its retaliation would "not be delayed" soon after the Israeli operation, while Islamic Jihad leader Khader Adnan accused IDF troops of "field executions" and said "the Palestinian resistance will do everything in its power to defend our people."

The last major breakout of violence in Gaza came in May 2021 following an Israeli raid on the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, a venerated holy site for Muslims. For more than two weeks, IDF warplanes battered the Palestinian territory while militants fired off countless rockets, leaving hundreds dead in Gaza and more than a dozen killed in Israel. Though the IDF vacated Gaza in 2005, the Israeli government maintains a tight blockade on the territory and continues to occupy the West Bank, stoking periodic clashes between the two sides.