IDF anti-terror operation in Jenin ‘biggest in 20 years’ as armed groups in UN camp hit

Israeli forces are conducting one of their biggest military operations in the West Bank in the last 20 years, beginning in the early hours of Monday morning.

Soldiers targeted armed groups in a UN camp in Jenin, a city dubbed “asylum for terrorists” by Israeli ministers. The attack has included drones and military vehicles, with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) going after a group called the Jenin Battalion.

The operation, which was still ongoing by midday, involved more than 1,000 troops and 15 IDF bulldozers to combat the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted along the roads, as soldiers used loudspeakers to tell residents to stay indoors for their own safety.

Amidst running gun battles, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said forces were targeting labs used for making IEDs and weapons. At least eight Palestinians were reported killed and more than 50 injured, while more than 20 were arrested.

Palestinian media agency Wafa said the IDF cut off much of the city’s electricity supply during the operation, with soldiers taking over houses on the edge of the camp, where they posted snipers. The city is home to 50,000 people.

A relatively new military umbrella organisation, the Jenin Battalion is known to draw its recruits from Palestinian groups such as Fatah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad. In a statement, it said its members would fight “until the last breath and bullet”.

During Monday’s mission, the IDF attacked what it described as a “joint terror command post” in the heart of the refugee camp near a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school, a clinic, and a food distribution centre.

The buildings were described as a meeting point for arming terrorists with weapons and explosive devices, a communication centre for operatives, and a shelter for wanted operatives for terror attacks in the last few months.

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said: “We will take an offensive and aggressive stance against terrorism. Anyone who attacks Israeli citizens will pay a high price. The security establishment is prepared for any scenario.”

Tensions have been mounting, especially after four Israelis were killed and another four were wounded – one seriously – in a shooting attack at a petrol station next to the Eli settlement in the northern West Bank ten days ago.

In addition, the deployment of IEDs against IDF troops and the launch of crude rockets from the West Bank last week led Israeli ministers to approve the operation which began around 1am, according to army spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht.

A spokesman for Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas said it amounted to “a new war crime against our defenceless people” but Hagari said 50 shooting attacks had originated from Jenin in the past two years, and that 19 terrorists had fled to the city following attacks.

He said it would “no longer be a city of asylum for terrorists” but added that the operation was not against the Palestinian Authority, with the IDF expressing no desire to extend it to other cities in the West Bank.