The Israeli army continues its deadly attack on Jenin, two more killed in the West Bank News about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Israel’s Iron Wall campaign is targeting the occupied Palestinian territory following the Gaza ceasefire, intensifying operations in the West Bank.
Israel’s deadly attack on Jenin has entered its third day, and its forces are also increasingly targeting Palestinians across the occupied West Bank.
Two Palestinians were killed overnight in attacks by Israeli forces in Burqin, bringing the death toll to 12 in Jenin province in the first two days of major raids.
The raids are part of Israeli raids Iron wall campaign in the occupied Palestinian territory, launched just days after the cease-fire in Gaza.
Palestinian news network Al Quds Today reported that Muhammad Abu al-Asaad and Qutaiba al-Shalabi were killed in an “armed clash with occupation forces that lasted for several hours.”
The Israeli military confirmed the killings on Thursday, saying the two were linked to Palestinian Islamic Jihad and wanted for the execution shooting in the village of Funduq in Qalqilya province earlier this month, which killed three Israelis and injured six.
The Palestinian Authority for Civil Affairs said Israeli forces refused to release their bodies.
The Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that Israeli forces involved in the killings surrounded a house in Burqin and fired volleys and missiles at it before bulldozing it to the ground.
Hassan Sobh, the mayor of Burqin, was quoted in the report as saying that Israeli soldiers used women as human shields during the attack.
On Wednesday, the Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP) reported that 16-year-old Motaza Imad Mous Abu Tabeekh was shot and killed by Israeli forces.
According to the Ramallah-based organization, he was one of seven Palestinian minors killed in Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank this year. Four of them were killed in attacks by Israeli drones, and three were killed by gunfire.
“Collective Punishment”
The Jenin refugee camp, established in 1953 by UNRWA to house displaced Palestinians, is the center of Palestinian resistance groups operating under the umbrella of the Jenin Brigade and has long been the focus of Israeli military incursions.
Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani claimed that the attack on camp it was aimed at countering “hundreds of terrorist attacks, both in Judea and Samaria [the occupied West Bank] and the rest of Israel”.
The attacks on Jenin are just one element of Israel’s stepped-up operations in the West Bank, which the Palestinian Authority (PA) says is aimed at “gradual annexation” of the territory.
Recent Israeli attacks on the West Bank include:
- Shu’fat camp in Jerusalem
- Sa’ir, north of Hebron
- Barham, north of Ramallah
- Rammun, east of Ramallah
- Birzeit, north of Ramallah
- Beita, south of Nablus
- Azzun, east of the city of Qalqilya
- Qalqilya
The sudden increase in settler attacks and Israeli military operations has frightened Palestinians in the occupied territory, who believe they may now face the same fate as their compatriots in Gaza.
Residents also reported a significant increase in the number of Israeli checkpoints and delays across the territory.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Bethlehem, Palestinian researcher and activist Hamza Zubiedat said the situation in the occupied territory has become “catastrophic”.
“By isolating and cutting off Palestinian villages and towns from each other, it means that there are no more doctors, nurses, teachers, not even transport of goods and fruits and vegetables from one place to another.
“It means more poverty and suffering for the Palestinian people,” he said.
Zubiedat said Israel is pursuing a “continuous process of annexation” with the support of the Trump administration, with the new president of the United States already sacking sanctions which his predecessor imposed on more than 30 Israeli settler groups and entities.
Elise Stefanik, President Donald Trump’s nominee for US ambassador to the United Nations, told US senators on Tuesday that Israel “biblical law” to the West Bank.
In response, Farhan Haq, a spokesman for the UN chief, told Al Jazeera: “The future of the West Bank, Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a whole should be resolved through negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian authorities.”
