Israeli forces in the West Bank killed 10 Palestinians on Saturday, an official in the occupied territories said, nine people in an Israeli military raid described as a “counterterrorism operation”.
The bloodiest day in the West Bank of the year erupted during a raid on a crowded refugee camp in the northern city of Jenin, where gunfire rang through the streets and smoke billowed from burning road barricades.
The Palestinian health ministry said the death toll from the clashes rose to nine, including a woman, and 20 people were wounded before Israeli forces withdrew in the early hours of the morning.
The military said Israeli forces were fired upon during a “counterterrorism operation to capture an Islamic Jihad terror squad” and shot several enemy fighters.
Since records began in 2005, the United Nations has never recorded such a high death toll in a single operation in the West Bank.
A tenth Palestinian was later shot dead by Israeli forces in Al-Ram, near Ramallah, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, said he was shot in clashes that erupted during protests against the killings in Jenin.
The violence prompted the Palestinian Authority to announce it was cutting security coordination with Israel, a move criticized by the United States.
Among those confirmed dead in Jenin is Majeda Obeid, 61, who lived a few meters (yards) from a house targeted by Israeli forces.
Her daughter, Kefiyat Obeid, told AFP that her mother was shot as she peered out of a window in the clashes.
“After he finished praying, he stopped for a moment to look and, when he stood up, he was hit by a bullet in the neck and he fell against the wall and then to the floor,” said the 26-year-old woman. AFP, because of blood stains soaked in the carpet of the house.
‘Panic Status’
The military said the attack targeted Islamic Jihad militants who are suspected of attacking Israeli soldiers and civilians and, according to Israeli Defense Minister Yoava Gallant, planning “to carry out terror attacks in Israel”.
Three Palestinians were shot dead in the fighting, while Israeli forces shot two more “away from the scene”, the army said. Israeli forces also shot a sixth suspect inside the building, and another Palestinian was hit after firing on troops, the army said.
“Claims of additional casualties during the exchange of fire are being investigated,” he said.
There were no casualties among Israeli forces, the military said.
Wisam Bakr, director of the Jenin Government Hospital, said there was a “situation of panic” in the pediatric ward with several children exposed to tear gas inhalation.
The Israeli military told AFP “the activity was not far from the hospital and tear gas may have entered through an open window”.
Jenin resident Umm Youssef Al-Sawalmi said houses were hit during the attack. “The windows, the doors, the walls and even the refrigerator, everything has been damaged by bullets,” he told AFP.
Islamic Jihad spokesman Tariq Salmi vowed that “the resistance is everywhere and ready and willing for the next confrontation”.
The latest death brings the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank to 30 so far, including fighters and civilians, most of whom have been shot by Israeli forces.
Saleh al-Arouri, deputy leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas that rules Gaza, vowed that Israel “will pay the price for the Jenin massacre”.
‘Bloody massacre’
Washington, Thursday, announced US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel next week to Israel and the Palestinian territories, where he will push to “end the cycle of violence”.
The Arab League holds “the government of Israel led by (Benjamin) Netanyahu responsible for carrying out this terrible bloody massacre”.
The rising toll comes after the deadliest year in the Palestinian territories on record by the UN.
At least 26 Israelis and 200 Palestinians were killed in Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2022, the majority in the West Bank, according to an AFP tally from official sources.
UN peace envoy Tor Wennesland said he was “deeply concerned and saddened by the continuing cycle of violence in the occupied West Bank”.
Thousands gathered at the funeral in Jenin, as the Palestinian president announced three days of mourning. It was pointed out that Thursday’s attack in Jenin happened “in international silence”.
“This is what encouraged the occupation government to commit genocide against our people in full view of the world,” said Nabil Abu Rudeinah, a spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.