West News Wire: The Palestinian Authority’s health ministry reports that during a raid in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, Israeli troops killed at least six Palestinians and injured 11 others.
According to a statement released by the ministry on Tuesday, two of the injured individuals had significant wounds.
Witnesses told the AFP news agency that Israeli forces encircled and rocketed a residence. Social media footage surfaced of helicopters flying over a column of military trucks entering the city.
The killing of two brothers last week from an illegal settlement close to the Palestinian town of Huwara, according to Israeli authorities, was carried out by one of the Palestinian men they killed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said troops had “eliminated” the gunman who last month killed two Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
The army entered a building in the Askar refugee camp and arrested three men, including two sons of a 49-year-old man killed in Jenin.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, called the use of rockets in Jenin on Tuesday an act of “all-out war”, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Abu Rudeineh accused the Israeli government of being “responsible for this dangerous escalation which threatens to inflame the situation and destroy all efforts aimed at restoring stability”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken overnight reiterated calls for both sides to de-escalate tensions in the West Bank, and the violence is also expected to be raised by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin when he visits Israel this week.
However, there has been no sign of any let up in the violence, ahead of the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover festival.
Overnight on Monday, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians in the village of Huwara, the scene of a violent rampage last week by dozens of settlers seeking revenge for the shooting of the two Israelis as they sat in their car.
Israeli army and border police forces dispersed crowds of what the military described as “a number of violent rioters” in Huwara. Videos shared on social media showed a group of black-clad youths attacking a Palestinian car before its driver managed to pull away.
“My wife was sitting in the back and she hugged our daughter to cover her,” said Omar Khalifa, who had just finished shopping at a supermarket and was in the car with his family when they were attacked.
“We could have lost her. There was real danger to our lives.”
Other footage appeared to show Israeli soldiers dancing together with Jewish settlers in the town on what was the Jewish festival of Purim. “Huwara has been conquered, gentlemen!” a voice is heard saying in Hebrew.
Israel’s military did not address a question about the footage of its soldiers dancing with settlers when it responded to a request for information on the incident from Reuters.
Last week, settlers torched dozens of cars and houses in Huwara after two brothers were shot by a Palestinian gunman as they sat in their car at a checkpoint nearby.
Settlers have killed at least five Palestinians in 2023 so far, while Israeli forces have killed at least 68 Palestinians this year. In the same period, 13 Israelis and one Ukrainian woman have been killed in apparently uncoordinated attacks.
