The Israeli military announced on Thursday that it had pressed ahead with an offensive on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, killing two men wanted for the murders of three Israelis earlier this month in a siege.
The men, identified by the Israeli military on Thursday as Mohammad Nazar and Katiba Shalabi, belong to the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad and carried out the shooting in the village of al-Hunduq on January 6. announced.
“The terrorists were wanted for the murder of three Israelis,” the military said in a statement, adding that an Israeli soldier was vilified in an operation Wednesday in the village of Burchin, just west of Jenin. added. “After a gunfight, they were eliminated by the military,” the statement said.
It could not be independently confirmed whether the men were involved in the attack in al-Hunduq, in which Palestinian gunmen opened fire on civilian buses and cars. Israeli settlers attacked the village, along with other West Bank towns, this week.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said Wednesday that at least 10 people were killed and more than 40 injured in this week’s attacks. Officials also told Palestinian news agency Wafa that dozens of people had been arrested.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that the attack was aimed at “eradicating terrorism” and would be “massive and significant.” These are the latest in a series from recent months.
last monthPalestinian security forces carried out their own attack in Jenin against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas, the armed groups that attacked Israel from Gaza on October 7, 2023, triggering the Gaza war.
Palestinian officials say Israeli forces killed 39 people during a 10-day raid on the West Bank in August and September, most of them in Jenin. They also destroyed homes, stores and roads.
Palestinian officials say Israeli security forces and settlers have killed more than 800 Palestinians in the West Bank in the 15 months since the war in Gaza began.
The United Nations condemned the violence, and the world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, issued an advisory opinion in August stating that Israel’s occupation and settlement of the West Bank and East Jerusalem violates international law. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the opinion and said the settlement was legal.
Jenin is a center of Palestinian resistance to both the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and many young people there have joined Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other armed groups. .
The level of conflict in the West Bank has increased since the war in Gaza began. The Israeli operation coincided with a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that took effect on Sunday.
