Israel’s military launched air raids on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, carrying out an attack that involved a missile and killing at least three Palestinians, according to residents and officials.
Residents said Israel carried out at least 10 air attacks in Jenin early on Monday, July 3 sending smoke billowing from the wreckage of buildings, and reported spotting a convoy of Israeli armoured vehicles moving towards the city’s vast refugee camp.
It started with multiple air strikes.
Videos published on social media showed smoke rising from a residential block.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least three Palestinians were killed and 12 others wounded in the ongoing raid.
“What is going on in the refugee camp is a real war,” Khaled Alahmad, a Palestinian ambulance driver, told the Reuters news agency.
The Jenin Battalion, a military umbrella that includes armed men from Palestinian groups Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, said: “We will fight the occupation forces until the last breath and bullet, and we work together and unified from all factions and military formations.”
Dozens of armed, masked Palestinians were deployed in the alleys of the camp.
In a separate incident, a 21-year-old Palestinian was also killed by Israeli fire near the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to officials.
Following Monday’s attack, the Israeli military said in a statement that it struck a “joint operations centre”, which served as a command centre for the Jenin Brigades, a unit comprised of fighters from different Palestinian armed groups.
It said the site functioned as an “advanced observation and reconnaissance centre” and a weapons and explosives site as well as a coordination and communications hub for Palestinian fighters.
It also provided an aerial photograph showing what it said was the target site and which indicated that the building hit was located near two schools and a medical centre.
The Israeli attacks set off a gunbattle that lasted into Monday morning, and the sounds of explosives and drones continued to be heard across Jenin hours after the raid.
The Jenin Brigades said it was engaging the Israeli forces while the Palestinian Islamic Jihad armed group said in a statement that “all options are open to strike the enemy [Israel] in response to its aggression in Jenin”.
As daylight broke on Monday, thick black smoke from burning tyres set alight by residents swirled through the streets while calls to support the fighters rang out from loudspeakers in mosques.
Last month, the Israeli military killed six Palestinians in a raid in Jenin, the first time in years that it has used attack helicopters in the West Bank.
Seven Israeli soldiers and border police officers were wounded in that attack.
The recent unrest has prompted global concern, with the United Nations human rights chief condemning Israel’s use of heavy weaponry, including drones and helicopter gunships, in the West Bank, which it has occupied since 1967.
The escalating violence has claimed dozens of lives since the start of the year.
At least 177 Palestinians, 25 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources from both sides.
By Agencies
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