Israeli security forces raided the flashpoint West Bank district of Jenin on Saturday, killing one person and injuring 12 people, after vowing that there would “not be limits” to curb surging violence.
The operation, which lasted several hours, came after a gunman from Jenin went on a shooting rampage in a popular Tel Aviv nightlife area on Thursday evening, killing three Israelis and injuring more than a dozen people.
Following the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett gave security agencies “full freedom” to end deadly violence that has surged since March 22 “in order to defeat terror.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
“There are not and will not be limits for this war,” Bennett said.
On Saturday, the army said security forces had launched the operation in the city of Jenin, in the north of the West Bank, its adjacent refugee camp and nearby villages.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that at least one Palestinian was killed by Israeli gunfire, while the Red Crescent said that 12 were injured.
The Islamic Jihad group said that one of its fighters, whom it identified as 23-year-old Ahmed al-Saadi, died during clashes in the camp.
A crowd of mourners marched through the streets carrying al-Saadi’s body on a stretcher covered with the group’s flag.
Palestinian security sources said part of Saturday’s operation was to identify the home of the Tel Aviv assailant ahead of demolishing it.
Human rights advocates have repeatedly denounced Israel’s policy of demolishing the homes of Palestinian attackers, saying that those affected are often relatives or neighbors unconnected to the crime, while Israel says it acts as a deterrent.
The Israeli army said troops and border police were “conducting counterterrorism activity” in the Jenin area, when gunmen opened fire “endangering their lives.”
In response, troops opened fire “towars the armed assailants,” the army said, adding that there were no casualties in Israeli ranks.
“An M16 assault rifle used by an assailant to attack the troops was confiscated,” it said.
The Jenin refugee camp is a stronghold of armed factions, where three other Palestinians linked to an attack on Israel were killed by the army last week.
Saturday’s raid comes a day after Israel said it had killed Raad Hazem, 28, the alleged Tel Aviv attacker.
In addition to giving security forces free rein to curb a surge in violence, Bennett on Friday ordered the closure of the Jalameh checkpoint between Jenin and Israel.
On Saturday evening, the Israeli Ministry of Defense department responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories announced the closure of a second checkpoint in the area and an “intensification” of checks.
“We will do whatever it takes, whatever is necessary, for however long and wherever needed, until both safety and the sense of security are restored,” army chief Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi told soldiers in the West Bank.
On Friday, the father of the alleged Tel Aviv attacker, Fathi Hazem — a retired Palestinian security forces officer according to Palestinian sources — struck a defiant tone.
Speaking to hundreds at the family home in Jenin, he said that Palestinians were looking for “freedom and independence.”
Fourteen people have been killed in attacks in Israel since March 22, including some carried out by assailants linked to or inspired by the Islamic State group.
Over the same period, at least 10 Palestinians have been killed, including assailants.
Hamas praised the Tel Aviv attack — drawing criticism from the UN — but did not claim responsibility.
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas denounced the Tel Aviv attack, while the US stressed its support of key ally Israel.
The Tel Aviv attack killed three Israeli men: childhood friends Tomer Morad and Eytam Magini, as well as Barak Lufan, a father of three.
It came amid heightened tensions during Ramadan, after violence flared during the Muslim holy month last year leading to 11 days of devastating conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Earlier this month, Israeli security forces killed three alleged Islamic Jihad members when they came under fire during an operation to arrest them in Jenin.
The raid, in which four Israeli soldiers were injured, followed another deadly attack on March 29 in Bnei Brak, a largely ultra-Orthodox Jewish city near Tel Aviv.
The alleged assailant, a Palestinian from Jenin, shot dead two Israeli civilians, two Ukrainians and an Arab-Israeli police officer.
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
Asian perspectives of the US have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent,” Singaporean Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Ng said in a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed. One example is that from the time of former US president John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, the image of the US was of a country
BLIND COST CUTTING: A DOGE push to lay off 2,000 energy department workers resulted in hundreds of staff at a nuclear security agency being fired — then ‘unfired’ US President Donald Trump’s administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) blind cost cutting would put communities at risk. Three US officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off late on Thursday, with some losing access to e-mail before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian
RSS