Israel’s army on Wednesday declared the end of a large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank that killed 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier over the previous two days.
The raid, involving hundreds of forces, drone strikes and armoured bulldozers, targeted the northern West Bank city of Jenin, a centre for multiple armed Palestinian groups.
Thousands of Palestinian mourners joined a funeral procession in Jenin for those killed, where militants fired gunshots into the air and the crowd chanted “With our souls and blood, we will sacrifice for you, martyr!”
Amid the days of violence, a Palestinian attacker in Tel Aviv on Tuesday wounded seven Israelis in a car ramming and stabbing attack before an armed civilian shot him dead.
Overnight, Israel carried out air strikes on targets inside the blockaded Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian coastal enclave, with no deaths reported.
As the army pulled out of Jenin, much of the city’s crowded refugee camp was left charred and in rubble from the incursion which displaced at least 3,000 residents.
“All this bloodshed is considered a sacrifice for the homeland and for our cause. All this destruction can be fixed, God willing,” a resident from Jenin camp told AFP as crowds of people holding Palestinian and militant flags marched through the city for the funerals.
Late on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to launch more operations if needed.
Read the article in NT News (AFP).