Hundreds of Palestinians left the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, on the third day of a major operation by the Israeli army against armed groups which left at least 12 dead.
Supported by bulldozers, planes and armored military vehicles, soldiers launched this operation called “Iron Wall” on Tuesday, two days after the start of a truce in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that this operation aimed to “eradicate terrorism in Jenin”, a town adjacent to a refugee camp located in the north of the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 by Israel.
“Hundreds of camp residents began leaving after the Israeli army, via loudspeakers attached to drones and military vehicles, ordered them to evacuate,” Jenin Governor Kamal said Thursday Abu al-Roub.
Salim Al-Saadi, a member of the camp management committee, who lives nearby, confirmed the order.
“They asked residents of the camp to leave before 5 p.m. local time (3 p.m. GMT) and there were dozens of people who started to leave.” “The army is in front of my house, they can enter at any time,” he added.
The Israeli army, questioned by AFP, denied having given such an order.
As of Wednesday, residents began fleeing the Jenin region on foot.
On Thursday, AFP images showed lines of women, men and children walking down a muddy street, some carrying a few belongings piled in bags, assisted by Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances.
A rescue worker pushed a man in a wheelchair as Israeli military vehicles drove nearby.
– “Shaving the roads” –
Army Chief of Staff General Herzi Halevi said the decision to launch the operation had been the “right one”.
“Once we recognized that the Jenin camp had become a hub for those planning attacks or seeking refuge after committing them, it was the right decision to enter by force,” he said. he declared in a press release.
The Israeli army said it shot dead two Islamic Jihad fighters accused of killing three Israelis in an attack in January on Thursday before dawn on the outskirts of Jenin.
-The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry reported on Tuesday evening ten deaths in the operation in Jenin, regularly the target of Israeli operations against armed groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The Israeli army said on Wednesday that it had “hit more than ten terrorists”, speaking of “air strikes on terrorist infrastructure” and the “dismantling of numerous explosives installed on the roads”.
The same day, the governor of Jenin announced numerous arrests and claimed that the army had “bulldozed all the roads leading to the camp”. The army says it uses these devices to protect itself from explosive devices.
– “Unwavering support” –
This operation began the day after the inauguration of American President Donald Trump, whose head of diplomacy Marco Rubio promised “unwavering support” to Israel on Wednesday during a telephone conversation with Mr. Netanyahu.
Mr. Rubio also “pledged to work tirelessly to help free all hostages still held in Gaza.”
After 15 months of war triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the first phase of a ceasefire agreement entered into force on January 19 in Gaza.
Three Israeli hostages, among the dozens of hostages kidnapped during this attack, were released in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners. A next exchange is planned for Saturday.
In one of his first decisions, Donald Trump ended sanctions imposed by his predecessor Joe Biden on extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank because of their attacks against Palestinians.
In 2020, during his first term, Mr. Trump proposed a “deal of the century” for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which provided for the annexation by Israel of parts of the West Bank, but never came to fruition.
Violence in the West Bank exploded during the war in Gaza. Since October 2023, at least 850 Palestinians have been killed there by the Israeli army or by settlers, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
At the same time, at least 29 Israelis, including soldiers, died there in Palestinian attacks or in military operations, according to Israel.
