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Gaza militants fired rockets and Israel carried out airstrikes early Friday as tensions rose after an Israeli attack in the occupied West Bank that killed nine Palestinians, including at least seven militants and a 61-year-old woman.
It was the deadliest single attack in the region in more than two decades. The violence posed an early test for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government and cast a shadow over US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to the region next week.
Palestinian militants fired five rockets into Israel, the military said. Three were intercepted, one fell in the open and the other fell short of Gaza. Israel carried out a series of airstrikes on what it said were militant targets. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The deadly attack took place in the Jenin refugee camp on Friday, as Palestinians gathered for weekly Muslim prayers that are often followed by protests. Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls Gaza, has previously threatened to retaliate against the attack.
Raising the stakes, the Palestinian Authority (PA) said it would end security forces’ ties with Israel in a joint effort to contain Islamist militants. The previous threat was long overdue, partly because of the benefits the authorities felt from the relationship and also because of US and Israeli pressure to maintain it.
Hamas threatened to retaliate
The Palestinian Authority already has limited control over scattered enclaves in the West Bank, and almost none over militant strongholds like the Jenin camp. But the announcement could pave the way for Israel to step up operations it says are needed to deter attacks.
Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls Gaza, has previously threatened to retaliate against the attack. The violent escalation in the West Bank has previously led to retaliatory rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, prompting Israeli airstrikes to descend on the isolated and impoverished region.
An Israeli strike early Friday targeted a training site for Palestinian militant groups, the military said. Witnesses and local media reported that an Israeli drone fired two missiles at a Hamas militant base before fighter jets struck, causing four large explosions.
Air raid sirens went off in southern Israel as two initial rockets were fired and again after the air strike, when militants fired three more rockets.
Israeli forces are on heightened alert
On Thursday, Israeli forces remained on high alert as Palestinians filled the streets of the western West Bank, expressing solidarity with Jenin. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning, and in refugee camps, residents dug mass graves for the dead.
Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Abbas decided to end security coordination because of “repeated aggression against our people, and the destruction of agreements signed,” referring to commitments from the Oslo peace process in the 1990s. He also said the Palestinians plan to file complaints with the UN Security Council, the International Criminal Court and other international bodies.
The PA last cut security coordination with Israel in 2020, as Netanyahu sought to annex the occupied West Bank, which would make a future Palestinian state all but impossible.
But six months later, the PA resumed cooperation, signaling the financial importance of the relationship and Palestinian relief in the election of US President Joe Biden.
Barbara Leaf, the top US diplomat for the Middle East, said the government was deeply concerned about the situation and that the reported civilian casualties in Jenin were “quite regrettable.” But he also said the Palestinian announcement to suspend security ties was a mistake.
“Obviously, we don’t think this is the right step to take now,” he told reporters, saying Palestinian vows to take the matter to the UN and the International Criminal Court were problematic.
“We want to see them go back in the other direction,” he said. “They have to join each other.”
Jenin camp is the focus of regular detention
There have been no serious peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians for more than a decade.
A gun battle on Thursday that left nine dead and 20 wounded erupted as the Israeli military carried out a rare daylight operation in the Jenin camp that it said was aimed at preventing an attack on Israel. The camp, where the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group has a major foothold, has been the focus of nightly Israeli arrest raids.
The armed wing of Hamas claimed four of the dead were members, while Islamic Jihad said the other three belonged to the group. An earlier statement from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militia linked to Abbas’s secular Fatah party, claimed one of the dead was a fighter named Izz al-Din Salahat, but it was unclear if he was among the seven militants.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the 61-year-old woman who died as Magda Obaid, and the Israeli military said it was investigating reports of her death.
The tension is rising
The Israeli military released aerial video it said was taken during the battle, showing what appeared to be Palestinians on rooftops hurling rocks and firebombs at Israeli forces below. At least one Palestinian was seen opening fire from the roof.
Later in the day, Israeli forces fatally shot a 22-year-old and wounded two others, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, as Palestinians confronted Israeli forces north of Jerusalem to protest Thursday’s attack. Israel’s paramilitary Border Police said they shot at a Palestinian who launched fireworks at close range.
Tensions have been rising since Israel launched an offensive in the West Bank last spring, following a series of Palestinian attacks.
Israel’s new national security minister, right-wing politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, who seeks to grant immunity to Israeli soldiers who shoot Palestinians, posted a video of himself beaming and saluting security forces.
The attack left a trail of destruction in Jenin. A two-story building, which was the target of the operation, collapsed. The military said they entered the building to detonate explosives.
The West Bank’s bloodiest attack since 2002
Palestinian Health Minister May Al-Kaila said paramedics were struggling to reach people wounded during the fighting, while Akram Rajoub, the governor of Jenin, said the military was preventing emergency workers from evacuating.
Both sides accused the military of firing tear gas in the hospital’s pediatric ward, causing children to suffocate. Video at the hospital shows a woman carrying a child into a corridor.
The military said troops were closing roads to help with the operation, which could have complicated rescue efforts, and that tear gas may have entered hospitals because of nearby clashes.
Israeli rights group B’Tselem said Thursday marked the biggest attack in the West Bank since 2002, at the height of a wave of violence known as the Second Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, that left scars still visible in Jenin.
“We call on the international community to help Palestine fight this extremist right-wing government and protect our citizens,” said Rajoub, the governor of Jenin.
The violence was condemned by the international community
United Nations Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland said he was “deeply concerned and saddened” by the violence. Condemnation came from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Turkey, which recently re-established full diplomatic ties with Israel, as well as from neighboring Jordan.
Saudi Arabia criticized the attack, saying it rejected “serious violations of international law by Israeli occupation forces.” Qatar, Kuwait and Oman added to the ban.
Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem last year, making 2022 the deadliest in the region since 2004, according to B’Tselem. So far this year, 30 Palestinians have been killed.
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. So far this year, excluding Thursday, one-third of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army or civilians have ties to armed groups.
Last year, 30 people were killed in Palestinian attacks on Israel.
Israel said the strikes were aimed at dismantling militant networks and preventing attacks. The Palestinians say they have more control over Israel’s 55-year-old, open occupation of the West Bank, which Israel captured along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip during the Middle East war of 1967. The Palestinians claim the area as their desired state.
Israel has established dozens of settlements in the West Bank that currently house 500,000 people. The Palestinians and much of the international community view the settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace, although talks to end the conflict have lasted more than a decade.
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