Israel attacks targets in the West Bank

According to Palestinian sources, at least three people died. Israeli media speak of a large-scale offensive.

The Israeli military has launched an attack on the Palestinian West Bank city of Jenin. The attack was directed against “terrorist infrastructure,” the army said on Twitter that night. At least three people were killed and 13 others injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The Israeli army spoke of a “large-scale anti-terrorist operation” and said its forces had hit a “joint operations center” that served as the command center for the “Jenin Brigade” – a local militant group.

According to Israeli media reports, a large-scale offensive called “Home and Garden” was heralded with airstrikes.

Armory and command post hit

The airstrikes hit, among other things, a command and communications center used as an arms store, a meeting place for terrorists and an observation post, the army and the Israeli domestic intelligence service Shin Bet said in a statement quoted by the Jerusalem Post. According to the report, there were power outages across Jenin.

“There were aerial bombing and a ground invasion,” said Mahmoud al-Saadi, director of the Palestinian Red Crescent in Jenin. According to Palestinian sources, shortly after the airstrikes, Israel’s army entered the city with many soldiers fighting with militant Palestinians.

In another incident, also in the West Bank, a 21-year-old Palestinian man was killed by Israeli fire near the city of Ramallah, according to the Health Ministry.

Tense security situation

The security situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories has been tense for a long time and recently worsened again. After a deadly attack by two Palestinians on four Israelis in the West Bank almost two weeks ago, angry Israeli settlers repeatedly used violence against Palestinians there.

In the first targeted airstrike in years in the occupied area, three Palestinians were killed with a military drone after shots were allegedly fired from their vehicle at an Israeli border crossing.