The Israeli army said on Thursday that one soldier was killed and another seriously wounded in an overnight raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, the latest in a series of violent Israeli attacks there.
In a brief statement that provided few details, the IDF said the dead sniper unit commander “fell in the line of duty.” The Palestinian state news agency Wafa reported that one Palestinian man was wounded in the attack.
Jenin, in the northern West Bank, is home to a refugee camp established more than 70 years ago for Palestinians displaced in the wars over the creation of the state of Israel. The city and camp have become a base for armed resistance to the occupation. Israel has carried out frequent raids there for years, but they have become more frequent since Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel on October 7, sparking the war in Gaza.
The army arrested 28 people in overnight raids, and nine remain in custody, including Jamal Hawail, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, according to a statement from the Palestinian Authority-linked Committee for Detainee and Former Detainee Affairs and the non-governmental Palestinian Prisoners’ Club. The council makes policy for Fatah, the party that controls the Palestinian Authority. The Israeli statement did not comment on the arrests.
Hundreds of Palestinians were detained in the raids, which Israeli officials say are part of a counterterrorism operation against Hamas and an extension of the war.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said this month that Israeli forces and settlers More than 500 people died Since Oct. 7, Israeli forces have launched operations to clear Palestinians from the West Bank. During that same period, 24 Israelis, including eight members of the security forces, have been killed in clashes or what Israel calls attacks by Palestinians in the West Bank, both in the West Bank and inside Israel, Turk said.