Air and ground attack against the Palestinian people
Palestinian youth in the midst of the Israeli attack. Source: Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP/Getty Image
During the first hours of the 3rd of July, Israel carried out a new military operation at a level that has not been developed since 2005, attacking by air and ground in the occupied territory of West Bank. This attack was focused on the city of Jenin, that was previously attacked last month, as we reported in an earlier article. Jenin is one of the cities with many Palestinian militias and a political objective for the Israeli State. There is at least 50 injured people and at least 8 deaths have been reported from this attack.
Israel has initiated this large-scale operation by bombing Jenin again. Then, dozens of military vehicles and ground troops attacked the city. In total there was used more than 150 tanks, fighter jets, drones and grenades and 1,000 soldiers of the elite special forces, military, police and border police participated. The attack was especially aimed at the houses in the refugee camp, where 20,000 people live. Also it is denounced that highways were blocked and ambulances and any medical service that approached were prevented to help the injured.
This new Israeli attack killed at least 8 people, three of them underage and the rest younger than 23 years old. It is counted 50 injured, 10 of them critical. Attacks on mosques, private health services and the ambulances themselves have also been denounced. It was also informed that city’s water supply was cut of due severe damage in infrastructure. The TV channel Al Araby also denounced that their journalists were shot while retransmitting the attacks on live. These attacks are every time more compared with the ones during the uprising of the Second Intifada (2000-2005). But in the words of the spokesperson of the Israeli army, the raid was only focused on “specific objectives” in their “wide anti-terrorist operation”, and which he assures have attacked only “terrorist infrastructure”.
This attacks, were supposedly aimed to Jenin Battalion, that are the brigades that unite all the militias of the Palestinian national resistance. The Israeli forces describes the refugee camp as a “unified command center” where the militia men gathered to coordinate and prepare themselves for the attacks. Until now, there are still house raids looking for weapons and at least 20 Palestinian people are detained. In response to this attack, the Jenin Battalion announces that “combatants of the organization do not have the intention to disarm themselves, even if if it costs their lives”. These armed groups have gained a lot of popularity among the people, specially in Gaza and the West Bank, the most affected areas by the continuous Israeli attacks.
The large-size operation happens before the emergency meeting called by the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the situation in the West Bank. After the brutal assault, the Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallan claims that “in the past few hours, we dealt a heavy blow to the terror organizations in Jenin and managed to record impressive operational achievements.”It was informed that the operation could continue 48 hours more.
