OAN’s Brooke Mallory
2:11 PM – Monday, July 3, 2023
According to a defense source, Israeli soldiers have begun retreating from Jenin after conducting one of the largest military operations in the occupied West Bank in years.
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It comes only hours after Israeli police reported that a suspected Palestinian car-ramming and stabbing incident in Tel Aviv, Israel, injured at least eight people on Tuesday.
A medical official at the scene said at least one victim was stabbed in the attack, and the suspected assailant was swiftly shot by a civilian and later “neutralized” by first responders.
The Islamist terrorist organization Hamas claimed responsibility for the incident, which it said was carried out by one of its members in reaction to Israel’s continuing military incursion in the occupied West Bank.
Earlier, the United Nations (UN) claimed three children were among 10 people killed during an Israeli military operation in Jenin, raising concerns about the scope of the operation.
On Tuesday, UN aid agencies claimed that there were restrictions regarding medical access.
“We are alarmed at the scale of air and ground operations that are taking place in Jenin in the occupied West Bank and airstrikes hitting a densely populated refugee camp,” said Vanessa Huguenin, a spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office.
Ever since March 2022, Jenin and surrounding neighborhoods in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have been subjected to increased raids authorized by Israel’s nationalist-religious government in response to a trend of Palestinian street violence.
The Jenin camp has long been a haven for militants armed with a variety of small weapons and an expanding stockpile of explosive devices. The Israeli military frequently accuses terrorist organizations of locating militants in highly populated urban areas, such as 1948 refugee camps. Many militants dwell in the camp, frequently with their families.
In an operation in Jenin in January, Israeli soldiers killed seven militants and two civilians. Last month, Palestinian terrorists and Israeli soldiers engaged in an hours-long gunfight in which six Palestinians were killed and over 90 were injured. A landmine injured seven Israeli soldiers and disabled their armored vehicle.
In reprisal, Palestinian gunmen killed four Israelis near a Jewish community, inciting settlers to rampage through Palestinian villages, torching houses and automobiles.
This descent into some of the worst violence since the Palestinian uprising coincides with a prolonged absence of peace talks aimed at establishing Palestinian statehood, a weaker Palestinian political leadership, and an expansion of Jewish settlements on occupied land under Israel’s most hardline nationalist government in history.
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