JENIN: Six Palestinians, including an alleged terrorist accused of killing two Israelis, were executed by Israeli troops in Jenin on Tuesday. It was the most recent fatal attack in an escalation of violence in the occupied West Bank.
In the clashes, which the army claimed included soldiers firing shoulder-fired rockets amid intense gunfire, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that six men, one aged 49 and others in their 20s, were killed. were killed.
According to Palestinian news, Nabil Abu Rudineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, described the use of rockets at the Jenin refugee camp, the scene of frequent clashes in the northern West Bank, as an act of "all-out war". Agency Wafa.
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A group of militants retaliated, with witnesses claiming that Israeli soldiers stormed the camp and surrounded a house. The army claimed that "explosive devices and blocks" were thrown at its troops.
A large amount of smoke was billowing from the building, according to an AFP photographer. A militant organization in the camp called the Jenin Brigade claimed on one of its Telegram channels that its shooters had "violent clashes" with Israeli forces.
Among those killed was Abdel-Fattah Hussein Khorushah, 49, a "terrorist operative" from the Islamist group Hamas, who was accused by Israeli forces of killing two Israeli settlers in the Palestinian city of Hawara on 26 February.
At least 26 Palestinians were injured during Tuesday's raid, three of them in critical condition, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. According to the army, two jawans have suffered minor injuries.
According to the Israeli military, after a rocket launch from the Gaza Strip, sirens were heard in Nir Aam, a small Israeli town just a few kilometers away. The military issued a brief statement saying a rocket was launched inside the Gaza Strip, which exploded.
Israel has occupied the Palestinian territory since the 1967 Six-Day War, the most recent in a series of deadly military operations.
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An AFP reporter who entered the ruins of the house where Khurushah was holed up after fighting saw blackened walls riddled with bullet holes and entire walls blown away.
Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a video message that Khorshah had been "eliminated" by the military. "In the heart of the killers' hideout," Netanyahu continued, "our brave soldiers acted with surgical precision." Whoever hurts us will have to face the consequences.
According to Palestinian presidential spokesman Abu Rudineh, "Israel is responsible for this dangerous escalation that threatens to escalate the situation and destroy all efforts aimed at restoring stability."
Following talks in neighboring Jordan, Israeli and Palestinian officials last month agreed to "stop further violence" and "commit to de-escalation" in a joint statement.
Sinan Majli, a spokesman for Jordan's foreign ministry, on Tuesday condemned Israeli "aggression" and expressed concern that it would "worse the situation and widen the cycle of violence."
The deaths of the six Palestinians, according to Hamas, will only make Palestinians "more determined to face the Israeli occupation and Israeli settler militias," it said.
Similar condemnations were made by Islamic Jihad and Abbas's Fatah movement, but he also suggested that the Palestinian Security Forces were involved in the conflict with the Israeli army.
Khorushah's two sons were detained during a separate raid by the Israeli army and the Shin Bet domestic security agency on a refugee camp in the city of Nablus. He was "suspected of aiding and abetting a terrorist attack", the Israeli military and Shin Bet said on Tuesday.
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In Nablus, south of Jenin, witnesses reported seeing three men being detained. The Israeli raids coincide with the celebration of the Jewish holiday of Purim and against a backdrop of rising tensions since the start of the year, with Netanyahu's hard-right government coming to power in December.
Some worry there will be more violence, especially near Jerusalem's holy sites during the Jewish holiday of Passover in April and the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which begins in late March.
Hours after the Jordan summit, two settlers in Hawara, brothers Yagel and Hallel Yaniv, both 20 years old, were killed. Later, in a West Bank city, hundreds of Israeli residents set fire to Palestinian homes and vehicles.