Israeli soldiers, Palestinian militants clash in the West Bank after incidents near settlements.
Written by Ali Sawafta
JENIN (Reuters) – Clashes broke out between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants at a West Bank settlement on Saturday as Israel continued its military offensive in the city of Jenin.
Israeli forces are searching areas around Jewish settlements after two separate security incidents on Friday evening. In Jenin itself, drones and helicopters circle overhead while the sound of sporadic gunfire echoes across the city.
Hundreds of Israeli soldiers have been on the offensive since Wednesday in one of their biggest operations in the West Bank in months.
The plan, which Israel says is designed to stop Iranian-backed terrorist groups from attacking its own citizens, has drawn international calls for it to be halted.
At least 19 Palestinians, including armed forces and civilians, have been killed since it began. The Israeli army said on Saturday that a soldier was killed during fighting in the West Bank.
Israeli soldiers are fighting Palestinian fighters from long-standing armed groups in Jenin and the nearby refugee camp, populated by families who live in townships driven from their homes in the 1948 Middle East war when Israel was founded.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Saturday that the child was taken to a hospital in Jenin with a bullet wound to the head.
The escalation of unrest in the West Bank comes as fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists rages on in the Gaza Strip nearly 11 months after it began, and hostilities between the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement on the Israel-Lebanon border have intensified. .
Late Friday, the Israeli military said two men were killed in separate incidents near Gush Etzion, a large West Bank enclave south of Jerusalem, where it was assessed that the soldiers were trying to attack Israelis.
In the first, a car exploded in a petrol station where the soldiers said they were trying to attack with a bomb. The military said a man was shot dead after he got out of a car and tried to attack the soldiers.
In the second incident, a man was killed after the military said a car trying to escort a security guard entered the Karmei Tzur area. The car was chased by the security forces and it crashed and the explosive in it was detonated, the soldiers said in a statement.
The death of the two was confirmed by the health authorities in Palestine but did not provide details on how they died.
The soldiers surrounded the area following these two incidents. The soldiers also raided the city of Hebron, where the two men came from.
Hamas praised what it called a “double heroic operation” in the West Bank. It said in a statement that “it is a clear message that the resistance will continue to shock, continue for a long time and continue as long as the violence against our people and the world continues”.
However, this group did not say that it was directly responsible for this attack.
Israeli army chief General Herzi Halevi said on Saturday that Israel would increase its defense measures and offensive actions such as the Jenin operation.
Amidst the gunfire, armed tractors searching for roadside bombs plowed asphalt roads and water pipes were damaged, leading to flooding in some areas.
Since Hamas attacked Israel last October which started the war in Gaza, at least 660 Palestinian soldiers and civilians have been killed in the West Bank, according to Palestinian figures, some by Israeli soldiers and some by Jewish settlers who have carried out regular attacks. Palestinian communities.
Israel says Iran supplies weapons and support to opposition groups in the West Bank – under Israeli rule since the 1967 Middle East war – and as a result the military has increased its operations there.
