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Israeli forces pull out of Jenin after major operation


By BBC
Published : 06 Sep 2024 09:32 PM

Israeli forces have withdrawn from Jenin city and its refugee camp in the occupied West Bank after a major nine-day operation there.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 Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) biggest actions in the West Bank for years. The IDF said it was acting against terrorism.

At least 36 Palestinians were killed - 21 from Jenin governorate - the Palestinian health ministry says.

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

An Israeli soldier was also killed during fighting in Jenin.

The city of Tubas and al-Faraa refugee 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 Hamas's attack on Israel.

Hundreds of troops from several branches of the security forces were involved, with civilians confined to their homes and utilities cut as the Israeli 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 assault 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 explosion. The Israeli army was interested in a cave 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 Israeli army and Palestinian 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 "Hamas".