Israeli troops withdraw in West Bank, Gaza rockets fired
Published: 05:07 PM,Jul 05,2023 | EDITED : 09:07 PM,Jul 05,2023
JENIN: Militants from the Gaza Strip fired rockets on Wednesday after Israeli forces withdrew from the Palestinian city of Jenin on Tuesday, following one of their biggest military operations in the occupied West Bank for years.
Israeli jets hit an underground weapons manufacturing facility in response, the military said, but it was not immediately clear whether there would be any further escalation.
Hours earlier, two Israeli military vehicles were seen leaving Jenin after dark in what appeared to signal an end to an Israeli operation.
At least twelve Palestinians, five of them fighters, and one Israeli soldier had been killed.
The operation, which the army said was aimed at destroying infrastructure and weapons in the Jenin refugee camp, was launched with a drone strike on Monday, and over 1,000 troops were deployed.
After they left, residents who had vacated the camp during the fighting began returning to its dark streets.
The densely populated refugee camp, where some 14,000 people live in less than half a square kilometre, has been one of the focal points of a wave of violence that has swept the West Bank for more than a year, drawing growing international alarm.
A few hours after the forces began withdrawing, Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip fired five rockets toward Israel, the military said. The rockets were intercepted and there were no immediate reports of casualties.
There was further escalation on Tuesday with a car-ramming and stabbing attack claimed by the Palestinian Hamas group in Israel's business hub Tel Aviv, in which eight people were hurt.
As Israeli troops were leaving Jenin, explosions could still be heard in the northern West Bank city amid reports of a gun battle near a Jenin hospital.
Doctors Without Borders said Israeli forces had fired tear gas at a hospital where its teams were working.
Palestinian fighters from groups including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah had fortified the camp with obstacles and watching posts to counter regular army raids.
Power and water supplies remained cut off in the camp and in some areas of the city after bulldozers that ploughed up roads looking for improvised bombs cut cables and a main water pipe.
Israeli forces uncovered underground explosives caches, one concealed in a tunnel under a mosque, confiscated 1,000 weapons and arrested 30 suspects, the military said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had evacuated 500 families from the camp, around 3,000 people. — Reuters
Israeli jets hit an underground weapons manufacturing facility in response, the military said, but it was not immediately clear whether there would be any further escalation.
Hours earlier, two Israeli military vehicles were seen leaving Jenin after dark in what appeared to signal an end to an Israeli operation.
At least twelve Palestinians, five of them fighters, and one Israeli soldier had been killed.
The operation, which the army said was aimed at destroying infrastructure and weapons in the Jenin refugee camp, was launched with a drone strike on Monday, and over 1,000 troops were deployed.
After they left, residents who had vacated the camp during the fighting began returning to its dark streets.
The densely populated refugee camp, where some 14,000 people live in less than half a square kilometre, has been one of the focal points of a wave of violence that has swept the West Bank for more than a year, drawing growing international alarm.
A few hours after the forces began withdrawing, Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip fired five rockets toward Israel, the military said. The rockets were intercepted and there were no immediate reports of casualties.
There was further escalation on Tuesday with a car-ramming and stabbing attack claimed by the Palestinian Hamas group in Israel's business hub Tel Aviv, in which eight people were hurt.
As Israeli troops were leaving Jenin, explosions could still be heard in the northern West Bank city amid reports of a gun battle near a Jenin hospital.
Doctors Without Borders said Israeli forces had fired tear gas at a hospital where its teams were working.
Palestinian fighters from groups including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah had fortified the camp with obstacles and watching posts to counter regular army raids.
Power and water supplies remained cut off in the camp and in some areas of the city after bulldozers that ploughed up roads looking for improvised bombs cut cables and a main water pipe.
Israeli forces uncovered underground explosives caches, one concealed in a tunnel under a mosque, confiscated 1,000 weapons and arrested 30 suspects, the military said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had evacuated 500 families from the camp, around 3,000 people. — Reuters