Israeli forces pull out of Jenin after major operation

[Pelican Press 0]

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******** forces pull out of Jenin after major operation

******** forces have withdrawn from Jenin city and its ******** camp in the occupied West Bank after a major nine-day operation there.

The area – a stronghold of militants and with a civilian population of about 60,000 – was targeted in one of the ******* Defense Forces’ (IDF) biggest actions in the West Bank for years. The IDF said it was acting against terrorism.

At least 36 Palestinians were ******* – 21 from Jenin governorate – the ************ health ministry says.

Most of the ***** have been claimed by armed groups as members, but the ministry says children are also among those *******.

An ******** soldier was also ******* during fighting in Jenin.

The city of Tubas and al-Faraa ******** camp were also raided during the operation across the northern West Bank – the deadliest of its kind since the start of the war in Gaza last October triggered by ******’s ******* on *******.

Hundreds of troops from several branches of the security forces were involved, with civilians confined to their homes and utilities cut as the ******** military battled with militants on the ground and with air strikes.

Residents of Jenin camp in the west of the city are emerging into the streets for the first time since the IDF began its ******** on 27 August.

Many, stunned and exhausted, slowly assessed the damage – the new layers of destruction mapping this operation onto the camp.

Khalid abu Sabeer lives in a basement apartment next to the mosque. The entire floor of his home, he said, was blown out by a powerful **********.

The ******** army was interested in a ***** beneath the building, he said, that had been there for decades, empty.

The IDF asked him to leave before blowing it up – and his home along with it.

Years of violent confrontation between the ******** army and ************ armed groups have been etched into Jenin’s narrow pathways – bullet-holes scattered across walls, piles of rubble left by military bulldozers, graffiti in the shape of M16 rifles, along with the name “******”.

Among the destruction is a ***** in the middle of the city centre – the main road broken and impassable.

Construction vehicles dig whole tree trunks out of the shattered road and cart them away. Shop owners and photojournalists clamber over the rubble to inspect the damage.

On either side, a crowd has paused to watch the rebuilding – residents on foot, on scooters, on bicycles; out on the streets for the first time in more than nine days.

The head of Jenin’s government hospital, Dr Wissam Bakr, who is also there, says the first four days of the ******** operation were the hardest for the hospital – with power and water supplies cut.

They were relying on generators and water tanks, he said, with two new-borns and two elderly patients on ventilators.

Further down the same road, the sounds of the city have returned: stallholders are back at the edge of the marketplace, hawking carts full of fresh fruit and vegetables; the cafes around packed with generations of men and boys.

On Friday morning, gunfire erupted again in the ******** camp, signalling the start of many funerals taking place. The BBC understands at least eight of the ***** are civilians,

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In a statement, the IDF said that in the area of Jenin “14 terrorists have been eliminated, over 30 suspects have been apprehended, approximately 30 explosives planted under roads were dismantled” during the operation.

It said it had also dismantled what it called “numerous ******* infrastructure sites… including an underground weapons storage facility located beneath a mosque, and a lab used to manufacture explosives” and had removed “large quantities of weapons”.

The ************ health ministry says three Palestinians have also been ******* in the southern governorate of Hebron over the past nine days.

The ******** military said one of them carried out a ********* ******* that ******* three ******** police officers near Tarqumiyah on Sunday.

There has been a spike in ********* in the West Bank since ******’s ******* and the ensuing war in Gaza.

More than 600 Palestinians have been ******* as ******** forces have intensified their raids, the ************ health ministry says. ******* says it is trying to stem deadly ************ attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and *******.

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