A raid by the Israeli army killed three Palestinians on Thursday morning, December 8, in the Jenin camp, a hotbed of tension in the north of the occupied West Bank, announced the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
“Three martyrs were killed by Israeli occupation bullets during a dawn operation against the Jenin camp”, stronghold of Palestinian armed factions, the ministry said, without yet identifying those killed. Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army has so far not commented on this information. Local witnesses told AFP that the Israeli raid was over.
Renewed tension in the West Bank
More than 40 Palestinians have been killed during Israeli operations this year in the Jenin area alone, including many fighters but also star Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
The Israeli raid comes against the backdrop of an upsurge in recent months of tensions in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 by Israel, which has deployed settlements there where more than 475 people live today. 000 people.
On Wednesday, a Palestinian suspected by Israel of being involved in an attack on soldiers near the settlement of Ofra was killed by Israeli forces after a chase. Mujahid Mahmoud Hamed, 32, was also suspected of being behind attacks in recent days, according to the Israeli army.
The United States and the United Nations are concerned
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement released a statement with a photo of Hamed and a gun, portraying him as a “martyr”. Family members told AFP he spent 11 years in an Israeli prison, from which he was released about a year ago.
Since a wave of anti-Israeli attacks last spring, Israeli forces have carried out more than 2,000 raids in the West Bank, operations that frequently result in clashes with the population or local fighters.
At least 150 Palestinians and 26 Israelis have been killed since the start of the year in the West Bank, Israel and Jerusalem. Israel has occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the Six Day War in 1967.
The US State Department also said last Friday “gravely concerned about the escalation of violence in the West Bank”, scene of the deadliest violence in seven years, according to the UN. The West Bank has reached the “boiling point”, the UN’s chief mediator for the Middle East, Tor Wennesland, said recently.
