News Israeli army kills 10 Palestinians, including an elderly woman | Israel-Palestine conflict news
Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians in one of the deadliest days in the occupied West Bank since Israel stepped up its attacks early last year.
Nine Palestinians have been killed after Israeli forces raided the Jenin refugee camp, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Another Palestinian, a 22-year-old man, was shot dead by Israeli forces in the town of Ram, north of Jerusalem.
At least 20 others were wounded with live ammunition in what Palestinians called the “massacre” in the Jenin raid. Four of them are in critical condition.
According to Palestinian officials, an elderly woman was among the dead. Authorities at Jenin Hospital identified her as Magda Obaid.
Israeli troops, which withdrew from Jenin after the killing, said they were investigating reports of the woman’s death.
Meanwhile, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade – an armed militia affiliated with the Palestinian political party Fatah – said one fighter, Izz al-Din Salahat, was among the dead.
Another, 24-year-old Saeb Azriqi, died of his injuries in hospital, according to the health ministry.
It said the situation on the ground was very difficult, with injured people kept being taken to hospital, as it accused the Israeli army of obstructing ambulances and medical personnel.
“This is an unprecedented invasion in terms of the scale of the invasion and the number of people injured,” Wiesam Baker, head of the Jenin Public Hospital, told Al Jazeera.
“The ambulance driver tried to approach a martyr who was lying on the ground, but Israeli troops fired directly at the ambulances, preventing them from approaching him,” Baker continued.
قوات الاحتلال تستهدو مركو إسعاو بشكل مباشر في مخيم #face#Arabic pic.twitter.com/wxlk3btPH8
– الجوcreيروولسطين (@AJA_Palestine) January 26, 2023
[Translation: The [Israeli] The occupying forces directly attacked an ambulance in the Jenin refugee camp. ]
Israeli troops also fired tear gas canisters at the hospital, affecting the children’s division, Baker said. It caused choking injuries to children and others, he said.
The Israeli army has denied deliberately firing tear gas at the hospital. “Nobody fired tear gas on purpose at the hospital,” an army spokesman said. “But the location of the event was not far from the hospital, and some tear gas may have entered through an open window.”
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, announced that the agency would cease security coordination with Israel following the massacres in the West Bank.
“So far, it will not be enforced,” he told a news conference in Ramallah, adding that the move was in response to Israel’s repeated aggression against the Palestinians and violations of international law.
“We salute those who stood firm in defense of our homeland,” the spokesman said.
He also called on the International Criminal Court to investigate Thursday’s killings.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has announced a third day of mourning during which flags will be lowered at half-mast, Palestinian state television reported.
PM Shtayyeh seeks UN intervention
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Al-Steyer issued a statement calling on the United Nations and all international human rights organizations to “intervene urgently to provide protection for the Palestinian people and stop the bloodshed of children, youth and women”.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry condemned the Israeli attack on Jenin and called on the international community to stop Israel’s escalating aggression, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Saleh al-Arouri, a prominent leader of the Hamas movement that runs the blockaded Gaza Strip, said there would be “no delay in the resistance’s response”.
Al Jazeera’s Youmna el-Sayed reported from Gaza that Palestinian factions, including Hamas, declared a day of mourning and declared a state of alert.
“They called on the international community to hold the ‘occupation criminals’ accountable and ultimately the people of Gaza took to the streets to express their outrage at the Jenin massacre,” Saeed said.
israeli action
The Israeli military justified the operation, saying special forces had been sent to Jenin to detain Islamic Jihad fighters suspected of planning and carrying out “multiple major terrorist attacks”.
The Israeli army launched a large-scale raid and surrounded the camp early in the morning with undercover agents, dozens of armored vehicles and snipers. Armed clashes with Palestinian resistance fighters soon broke out.
Several Palestinian fighters were hit after opening fire, the military added.
“During the operation, security forces surrounded the building where the suspects were. Two armed suspects were seen fleeing the scene and were subdued by security forces,” Israeli officials said in a statement.
There were no reports of injuries to Israeli troops.
U.S. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel echoed Israel on Thursday, calling the attack a “counterterrorism operation.”
“We recognize the very real security challenges facing Israel and the Palestinian Authority and condemn terrorist groups for planning and carrying out attacks against innocent civilians,” Patel told reporters.
“We also regret the loss of innocent lives and the injury of civilians, and express our deep concern at the escalating cycle of violence in the West Bank.”
Jenin is one of the northern West Bank regions where Israel has stepped up attacks over the past year in an attempt to crush a growing Palestinian armed resistance movement.
Aleef Sabbagh, a political analyst specializing in Israeli affairs, said Thursday’s action in Jenin “should be read as a signal – the first of a larger Israeli operation.” gun”.
“The lack of response to what Israel is doing – both from Arab countries and from the international community – is encouraging it to keep attacking and killing,” Sabag told Al Jazeera.
“Targeting ambulances and hospitals, preventing access to the wounded, executing field executions — even the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh — without accountability. Without a real, strong response, Israel will continue to do what it wants with impunity.”
Al Jazeera’s Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran journalist covering the Occupied Palestinian Territories for more than 25 years, was shot dead last May while covering a raid on the Jenin refugee camp.
No one has yet been held accountable for her killing.
Marwan Bishara, a senior political analyst at Al Jazeera, said, “In the international arena, fighting ‘terrorism’ sounds magical. It can justify anything, even if it is completely wrong.”
While Israel justified its action on security grounds, Palestinians “see it as a cynical tactic aimed at humiliating the Palestinian Authority,” the analyst said.
Under the terms of the Oslo Accords, the attack took place in so-called Area A, which is under Palestinian administrative and police control. “These young men in the refugee camps are just trying to protect themselves, it’s not like they’re going out in Israel and shooting Israelis,” Bishara added.
The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in January attacks in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem has risen to at least 29, including five children. At least 15 of the victims were from Jenin.
In 2022, more than 170 Palestinians, many of them civilians, were killed in such attacks.
