The Israeli army said “security forces are currently operating in the Jenin [refugee] camp” in the northern West Bank, but gave no further details. The situation was still ongoing.
Witnesses told Al Jazeera that a house was besieged and hit with heavy weaponry. Footage circulating on social media showed helicopters over a column of military vehicles entering the city.
Israeli authorities said one of the Palestinian men they killed was suspected of shooting two brothers from an illegal settlement near the Palestinian village of Huwara last week, according to Israel’s Channel 12 news.
The raid on Jenin is ongoing. “At the same time, another raid is being carried out in another refugee camp, just south of Nablus,” said Al Jazeera’s Sara Khairat, reporting from Ramallah.
People gather along a road during an Israeli army raid in the Jenin camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on March 7, 2023. - Israeli troops killed one Palestinian and wounded several others in a raid in Jenin on March 7, the Palestinian health ministry said. Witnesses in the refugee camp reported heavy gunfire between militants and soldiers as the Israeli forces surrounded a house.
People gather along a road during an Israeli army raid in the Jenin camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on March 7, 2023 [Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP]
Overnight on Monday, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians in the village, 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.
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.
Last week, settlers torched dozens of cars and houses in Huwara after two brothers were shot by a presumed Palestinian gunman as they sat in their car at a checkpoint nearby.
The rampage, described as a “pogrom” by a senior Israeli commander, triggered worldwide outrage and condemnation, which was increased when ultra-nationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has responsibility for aspects of the West Bank administration, said Huwara should be “erased”. Smotrich later offered a partial retraction.
Israeli army vehicles move along a road during a raid in the Jenin camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on March 7, 2023.
