Israeli operation in Jenin officially over: army

Israel’s army on Wednesday declared the end of a two-day operation in the Jenin area of the occupied West Bank during which 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed.

“The operation is officially over and the soldiers have left the Jenin area,” a military spokeswoman told AFP.

The Israeli military launched the raid on the Jenin refugee camp early on Monday under the orders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government.

The raid, Israel’s biggest military operation in years in the West Bank, employed hundreds of troops as well as drone strikes and army bulldozers that ripped up streets.

Israeli forces had started to withdraw from the Jenin area late Tuesday, a military spokesman told AFP.

Israel later launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip after intercepting five rockets fired at Israel from the blockaded Palestinian territory.

A Palestinian security source said the attack hit a military site of the militant group Hamas in northern Gaza but caused no injuries.

During the raid on the Jenin camp in the West Bank, the army said it had uncovered militant hideouts, arms depots and an underground shaft used to store explosives.

The Israeli military said its forces had dismantled six explosives manufacturing facilities and three operational situation rooms in Jenin, and confiscated large quantities of weapons.

The Palestinian health ministry said the large-scale Israeli army assault on Jenin camp had killed 12 Palestinians.

The Israeli army said one soldier was killed by “live fire” late Tuesday.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967.

Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, the territory is now home to around 490,000 Israelis in settlements considered illegal under international law.

The Palestinians, who seek their own independent state, want Israel to withdraw from all land it seized in 1967 and to dismantle all Jewish settlements. (BSS/AFP)