Khaberni - This Thursday afternoon, the north of the West Bank witnessed a rapidly escalating field tension, with an expanding Israeli military operation in and around the city of Jenin.
Israeli Channel 12 reported that the air force had just carried out an attack in Jenin, coinciding with clashes between a Palestinian armed fighter and an Israeli special unit in the same area.
Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that occupying forces are surrounding a house in the Jabal Abu Dhahir neighborhood in Jenin. Special forces had infiltrated the neighborhood and surrounded the house, then the occupying forces pushed military reinforcements. Also, a helicopter flew over the area while an explosion was heard.
In Tubas, Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that Israeli helicopters flew over the city and fired their machine guns at populated areas, indicating an expansion of the operation.
Al Jazeera's correspondent from Jenin also mentioned that an explosion occurred in Jabal Abu Dhahir, coinciding with the flight of a drone over a house surrounded by the occupation forces.
For its part, the Israeli army confirmed that helicopters from the air force are supporting the commando forces in the ongoing operation in the northern West Bank, indicating also that members of the undercover unit of the border guard commenced operations in Jenin as part of the same operation.
According to medical sources, about 20 Palestinians were injured by the assault of the occupation army on them, including an elderly man in his eighties. Moreover, the occupying forces have arrested more than 75 Palestinians since the beginning of the operation and detained dozens more inside the city.
The occupation forces had started this operation in five areas within the Tubas governorate, deploying significant military reinforcements towards the area, and converted Palestinian homes into military barracks.
Curfew
Yesterday, the occupation forces imposed a curfew and siege on the city of Tubas, Al-Fara'a camp, and the villages of Aqaba, Tammun, and Tayasir, as well as several areas in the northern Jordan Valley, raided many homes and converted some into military barracks.
The Israeli army announced the start of a large-scale military operation in the area in cooperation with the internal security service (Shin Bet) and the border guard, involving fighter jets, helicopters, and drones, based on what it claimed to be intelligence information about activities suspected to be linked to Palestinian armed organizations and the monitoring of infrastructure aimed at targeting the army.
Maariv newspaper quoted army sources saying that the operation followed an increase in Palestinian attempts to carry out operations in recent weeks and monitoring of movements aiming to re-form armed brigades.
The Israeli army stated that special forces are combing dozens of buildings and investigating Palestinians suspected in the area, confirming that the operation will continue "to prevent the entrenchment of terrorism and remove any security threat," as it claimed.
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) condemned the Israeli military operation in Tubas, saying it reveals "the scale of systematic criminality practiced by the extremist occupation government, as part of a declared policy aimed at crushing any Palestinian existence to achieve complete control over the West Bank."
The Islamic Jihad Movement also stated that the Israeli occupation operation in the West Bank is "a new systematic aggression against our people, within the framework of the entity's plan aiming to empty the West Bank of its people, displace them, and take control of their lands and possessions."
Also in the West Bank, Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that the occupation forces stormed the village of Al-Mughayyir northeast of Ramallah, and stated that the soldiers launched a drone in the skies after they raided a commercial facility and detained the workers inside.
Al Jazeera's correspondent also reported from Palestinian sources that the occupation soldiers uprooted dozens of ancient olive trees in the village of Al-Janiya west of Ramallah to expand the settlement of Ne'riya built on Palestinian lands.
