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Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians, including a 60-year-old woman, and wounded several others during an attack on a flashpoint area in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said, in the deadliest day in years in the region. .
The violence came as Palestinian health officials described what they described as a fierce operation in broad daylight in the Jenin refugee camp, a militant stronghold in the West Bank that has been the focus of Israeli detention attacks for nearly a year. The conflict escalated this month, with 29 Palestinians killed since the start of the year. It was not immediately clear how many people killed on Thursday were linked to armed groups.
The fighting comes weeks into Israel’s new, far-right government, which has vowed to fight against Palestinians and expand settlement construction on land Palestinians seek for the state they want. It also comes days before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to arrive in the region and push for measures that could improve daily life for Palestinians.
The Israeli military said it carried out the rare daytime operation because of intelligence it received that a militant group linked to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has a major foothold in the camp, was set to carry out an attack close to Israel. A gun battle erupted, when the military said it was targeting militants. At least one of the dead was identified by Palestinians as a militant.
Palestinian Health Minister May Al-Kaila said paramedics were struggling to reach the wounded amid the fighting. He also accused the military of firing tear gas at the hospital’s pediatric ward, causing children to suffocate. Video from the hospital shows a woman carrying a child out of a hospital room and into a corridor. The military said tear gas had entered the hospital in clashes nearby.
The Jenin hospital identified the dead woman as Magda Obaid. The Palestinian Ministry of Health earlier identified the other dead as Saeb Azriqi, 24, who was taken to hospital in critical condition after being shot, and died of his wounds.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade – an armed militia affiliated with Fatah, the secular political party that controls the Palestinian Authority, claimed one of the dead, Izz al-Din Salahat, as a fighter. The ministry said at least 16 people were injured.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, condemned the violence, calling on the international community to oppose it.
Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have been rising since Israel launched an offensive last spring, following a Palestinian attack that killed 19 people, while another attack at the end of the year brought the death toll to 30.
Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed last year
Thursday’s violence brought the number of Palestinians killed this year to 28. Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed last year, making 2022 the deadliest since 2004, according to Israeli rights group B’Tselem.
Israel said most of the dead were militants. But youths who protested the attack and others who did not participate in the confrontation have also been killed.
Israel said the strikes were aimed at dismantling militant networks and preventing future attacks. The Palestinians say they are more in control of Israel’s 55-year, open occupation of the land they seek for a future state.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip during the 1967 Middle East war, areas the Palestinians claim as their desired state.
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