[News] Israel kills 5 in Jenin raid amid fierce resistance

[Anti-Imperialist News]

electronicintifada.net
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-kills-5-jenin-raid-amid-fierce-resistance>
Israel kills 5 in Jenin raid amid fierce resistance
*Many videos accompany this story at the URL above*

Maureen Clare Murphy
<https://electronicintifada.net/people/maureen-clare-murphy> - 19 June 2023
------------------------------
[image: Men and boys sit next to and lean over three bodies on stretchers
shrouded in Islamic Jihad and Palestineflags]

Mourners gather around the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli
military raid during their funeral in the West Bank city of Jenin, 19 June.
EFE

Israeli occupation forces killed five Palestinians, including a child,
after encountering fierce resistance during an hours-long raid in the
northern West Bank city of Jenin <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/jenin>
on Monday.

Separately, Israeli troops shot 20-year-old Zakarya al-Zaoul in the head
during confrontations in Husan village near the West Bank city of
Bethlehem late
Monday <https://www.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/73368>, killing him.

Meanwhile, two soldiers were injured
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-2-soldiers-wounded-in-car-ramming-attack-in-northern-west-bank/>
and two Palestinians shot on Monday night after the latter allegedly
accelerated a vehicle towards troops at a checkpoint near Jenin. One of the
alleged Palestinian assailants was reported to be critically injured.

More than 90 Palestinians were injured during the daytime raid in Jenin on
Monday, 23 of them seriously, according to
<https://www.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/73338> the health ministry in the West
Bank, including
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-06-19/ty-article/.premium/18-palestinians-wounded-in-clashes-with-idf-in-jenin-palestinian-media-reports/00000188-d203-d52d-adef-f64f067d0000>
a 15-year-old girl in critical condition after she was struck by a bullet
while in her home.

At least seven Israeli soldiers and Border Police officers were wounded
during the raid, most of them injured by an explosive device targeting a
military vehicle. Their injuries were reportedly light to moderate.

Even in a year in which Israeli forces have launched multiple deadly
daytime raids in Palestinian cities, several
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israeli-death-squad-kills-four-jenin>
in Jenin
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-kills-six-jenin-raid>
alone
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/israeli-bloodbath-jenin-kills-9-palestinians>,
Monday’s incursion, in which Israel sought to arrest two wanted men, marked
an escalation.

Israel used a US-sourced Apache attack helicopter in the West Bank for the
first time in two decades to facilitate the evacuation
<https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/19/middleeast/israel-jenin-idf-clashes-west-bank-intl-hnk/index.html>
of the ambushed troops.

The helicopter was hit by Palestinian gunfire but remained operational.
Several military vehicles, including a 10-ton
<https://www.armyrecognition.com/march_2019_global_defense_security_army_news_industry/israel_panther_new_multipurpose_armored_personnel_carrier_for_idf.html>
Panther armored vehicle, were “incapacitated” by Palestinian resistance
fighters.
“Unusual and dramatic”

An Israeli military spokesperson said that the Panther and another military
vehicle were hit by a “pretty advanced” improvised explosive device.

“It’s pretty unusual and dramatic. It will affect how we do business,” the
spokesperson said, adding that troops came under a “massive amount of
gunfire.”

Amir Bohbot, military correspondent for the Israeli news site Walla,
remarked that the units that raided Jenin were “surprised today by the
strength of the resistance.” He added that the “classic ambush” was
reminiscent of the more advanced tactics of Hizballah in Lebanon and Hamas
in Gaza:
Multiple videos circulated online showing strong explosive devices
detonating next to the military vehicles and the army coming under fire
from multiple directions: The armed wing of Hamas published a video showing
its fighters testing explosive devices that it credited to its engineering
unit in Jenin refugee camp: Palestinian outlets circulated videos showing
Israeli forces towing its destroyed military vehicles, including the
Panther armored vehicle: Israeli forces came under heavy fire while
withdrawing the damaged vehicles: Videos posted on social media showed
Palestinians parading parts of the ambushed military vehicles through the
streets of Jenin: Hamas leader Abd al-Rahman Shadid said
<https://shehabnews.com/post/126877/%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%B5-%D8%B4%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D9%84%D9%80-%D8%B4%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%AA%D8%B5%D8%AF%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%85%D8%A4%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%AA%D8%B7%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%AE%D8%B7%D8%B7%D9%87%D8%A7-%D9%88%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%87%D8%A7>
that the Israeli casualties and disabled military vehicles point to an
evolution of the capabilities of resistance fighters in the West Bank.

Abu Hamza, the pseudonymous spokesperson for the armed wing of the Islamic
Jihad resistance group, promised more surprises
<https://shehabnews.com/post/126878/%D8%A3%D8%A8%D9%88-%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%B2%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%A3%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%AD%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D9%84%D9%86-%D8%AA%D9%83%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%A2%D8%AE%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%83-%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84>
for occupation forces, so long as Israel continues its policy of
assassinations and violating prisoners’ rights and the sanctity of holy
sites.

The spokesperson credited the leadership of Tariq Izzedine
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/tariq-izzedine>, who helped oversee
Islamic Jihad’s resistance activities in the West Bank from Gaza, where he
was forcibly transferred by Israel in a prisoner release deal and killed in
an airstrike
<https://electronicintifada.net/content/children-bear-brunt-israel-targets-gaza-homes/37711>
along with two of his children last month.

Three of those killed during the raid in Jenin on Monday – Qassam Abu
Sariya, 29, Qais Jabareen, 21, and Ahmad Daraghmeh – were reportedly
affiliated with Islamic Jihad’s armed wing.

Video said to document the moment that Daraghmeh was shot appears to show
that the young man was throwing stones towards troops before he was fatally
injured:
Also killed was Khaled Azzam Asaaseh, 21, and 15-year-old Ahmad Yusif
Saqer. Defense for Children International-Palestine said
<https://www.dci-palestine.org/israeli_forces_shoot_dead_15_year_old_palestinian_boy_in_jenin>
that the teen was shot in the stomach by troops who fired from the back of
a military vehicle. “This Israeli military incursion into Jenin happened in
broad daylight—it is clear that Israeli forces feel confident in their
ability to shoot and kill Palestinians, including children, with complete
impunity,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, a program director with the children’s
rights group.

Ahmad Saqer was holding stones and standing among a group of young
Palestinians, some of whom allegedly lobbed homemade explosives towards the
raiding troops, the rights group said.

His father told Al Jazeera
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/6/19/deaths-injuries-as-israeli-forces-raid-jenin-2>
that “when the Israeli army raided, he ran towards them. He wanted to die
after his friend Omar was killed.”

The slain child’s father may have been referring to Omar Awadin
<https://www.dci-palestine.org/israeli_special_forces_shoot_kill_palestinian_boy_riding_his_bike_in_jenin>,
a 14-year-old who was killed while riding his bike
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israeli-death-squad-kills-four-jenin>
outside his parents’ shop during a raid by undercover forces in Jenin in
March. Three other Palestinians were killed during the same raid.
Paramedics, journalists attacked

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said that one of its ambulances was
deliberately hit by an Israeli military vehicle, obstructing the work of
paramedics, during Monday’s raid.

Israeli forces also reportedly opened fire near a hospital:
Israeli troops injured journalist Hazem Nasser with live fire in his side –
a year and a month after a military sniper shot and killed Al Jazeera
correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/shireen-abu-akleh> in Jenin.
Additional journalists came under fire during Monday’s raid: Al-Haq, a
Palestinian human rights group, blamed the deadly raid on the
“international community’s deliberate failure to hold Israel accountable.”
The rights group noted
<https://twitter.com/alhaq_org/status/1670765615286550528> that the number
of Palestinians killed by Israel in the West Bank during the first five
months of 2023 was more than double during the same period the previous
year – which was the deadliest year for Palestinians in the territory since
2005.

Al-Haq added <https://twitter.com/alhaq_org/status/1670765618449076224>
that around one-third of the 157 Palestinians killed in the West Bank last
year were in the Jenin governorate, which has borne the brunt of an Israeli
crackdown on resurgent
<https://electronicintifada.net/content/palestine-brink-full-scale-revolt/36501>
armed
resistance
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/podcast-ep-59-jenin-rises>
against occupation and settler colonization in the northern West Bank.

Tor Wennesland, the UN secretary-general’s Middle East envoy, said that
Monday’s raid was an escalation that “threatened to plunge … deeper into a
deadly crisis.”
Amos Harel, military correspondent for the Tel Aviv newspaper *Haaretz*,
reported
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-06-19/ty-article/.premium/netanyahu-government-and-settlers-push-for-west-bank-operation-but-the-idf-is-reluctant/00000188-d353-daff-a3cf-f35f2b130000>
that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and allies “are
considering a takeover” of the Jenin area, fearing that armed resistance
will spread into other areas under nominal control of the increasingly
weakened Palestinian Authority.

“The Israeli government has been pressuring the security forces to conduct
a major military operation in the northern West Bank,” according to Harel.

“Those pressures have been growing in recent weeks amid a series of
shooting attacks in the area and a campaign undertaken by the settler
leadership demanding to resume control of the Jenin area.”

Harel added that the ultra-far-right “Bezalel Smotrich, who is finance
minister and also shares responsibility for the West Bank at the Defense
Ministry, has been adding to the pressure.”

Smotrich tweeted during Monday’s raid that “the time has come to replace
the tweezers with a broader operation to eradicate the nests of terrorism
in northern Samaria [the West Bank] and to restore deterrence and security.”
[image: A plume of gray smoke rises over a field surrounded by buildings]

Smoke billows from an explosion during an Israeli army raid in the West
Bank city of Jenin, 19 June.
Alaa Badarneh EFE

Netanyahu is reportedly warming up to the idea and “may also look on such
an operation as an opportunity to divert the public’s and media’s attention
away from the judicial overhaul, which has only brought him trouble and
failure,” according to Harel.
Israel’s failed crackdown on armed resistance

More than a year of repeated raids in the Jenin area and episodic military
offensives in Gaza over the past 15 years have failed to wipe out armed
resistance, which has only become more sophisticated and disruptive to
Israel over time.

Islamic Jihad leaders have said
<https://electronicintifada.net/content/hamas-happy-israel-decimated-islamic-jihad/36131>
that armed resistance made the maintenance of settlements and military
deployment inside the Gaza Strip too costly for Israel, leading to its
unilateral withdrawal from the territory in 2005.

At least one Palestinian outlet compared Monday’s ambush of military
vehicles in Jenin to the kind of resistance that led to the Gaza
withdrawal:
While it won’t quell armed resistance, a major Israel military operation in
the Jenin area would all but certainly bring mass casualties and
devastation. At least 52 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers were killed
during Israel’s 2002 siege on Jenin refugee camp.

The Israeli military left “a landscape of ruin,” with “the smell of death”
permeating the camp, according to a witness
<https://mondoweiss.net/2022/04/remembering-jenin-20-years-after-in-the-shadow-of-ukraine/>
to the aftermath of the 11-day siege.

An Israeli military spokesperson hinted at reprisal assassinations of
faction leaders after Monday’s raid in Jenin.

“It is too early to say if this incident will have consequences in Gaza,”
Daniel Hagari, the spokesperson, said
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-06-19/ty-article/.premium/18-palestinians-wounded-in-clashes-with-idf-in-jenin-palestinian-media-reports/00000188-d203-d52d-adef-f64f067d0000>
.

Last month
<https://electronicintifada.net/content/palestine-pictures-may-2023/37886>,
at least 33 Palestinians in Gaza were killed during five days of intense
cross-boundary fire that began when Israel launched a surprise attack
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-kills-islamic-jihad-leaders-surprise-gaza-attack>
by assassinating three Islamic Jihad leaders in their homes.

Israel targeted and killed three more Islamic Jihad leaders in the
following days. The resistance faction responded by firing hundreds of
rockets toward central and southern Israel, killing two people in the
country.

One of Islamic Jihad’s ceasefire demands was the cessation of
assassinations.

Atta Abu Rmeileh, an official with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud
Abbas’ Fatah party, said
<https://au.sports.yahoo.com/israeli-troops-kill-five-palestinians-185012609.html>
that its fighters from nearby cities had participated in the fight in Jenin.

“We tell this occupation that all their operations are a failure, our
people will win, and the dialogue between us will only be the battlefield,”
Rmeileh added.

Hazem Qassem, a spokesperson for Hamas, said
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/6/19/deaths-injuries-as-israeli-forces-raid-jenin-2>
on Monday that “the threats by the occupation of the military operation
will not stop the resistance in the West Bank.”
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