JENIN: A Palestinian official said hundreds of people began leaving their homes in a flashpoint area of the occupied West Bank on Thursday as Zionist forces pressed a deadly operation. The Zionist military launched the raid in the Jenin area, a hotbed of Palestinian militancy, days into a ceasefire in the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“Hundreds of camp residents have begun leaving after the (Zionist) army, using loudspeakers on drones and military vehicles, ordered them to evacuate the camp,” Jenin governor Kamal Abu al-Rub told AFP. Since it began on Tuesday, the operation has killed at least 12 Palestinians and wounded 40 more, according to the Palestinian health ministry. “There are dozens of camp residents who have begun to leave,” Jenin resident Salim Saadi said. “The army is in front of my house. They could enter at any moment.”
Zionist forces have also detained several Palestinians from the Jenin area, with an AFP photographer seeing a row of blindfolded men in white jumpsuits being transported out of the West Bank. Palestinians had already begun fleeing the Jenin area on foot on Wednesday, with AFPTV images showing a group of men, women and children making their way down a muddy road, the sound of drones buzzing above them clearly audible.
The Zionist military said on Thursday it killed two Palestinians near Jenin during the night, accusing them of having killed three Zionists. In a statement, the military said Zionist troops found the two fighters barricaded in a house in the village of Burqin. “After an exchange of fire, they were eliminated by the forces,” it said, adding one soldier was wounded in the gunfight. The Palestinian health ministry later confirmed the two deaths.
Violence has surged across the occupied West Bank since the Gaza war erupted on Oct 7, 2023, with Hamas’ attack on the Zionist entity. According to the Palestinian health ministry, Zionist troops or settlers have killed at least 850 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Zionist-Hamas war began. The Jenin raid began after a truce took effect in Gaza on Sunday, halting 15 months of war.
The devastating war in Gaza has killed more than 47,200 people, the majority of them civilians. Under the terms of the truce, Gaza fighters handed over three Zionist women they had been holding since 2023, in exchange for the release of around 90 Palestinian prisoners from Zionist jails. On Saturday, the two sides are due to carry out a second swap. During first phase of the ceasefire, which is intended to last 42 days, Zionist forces are withdrawing from densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip. – AFP