The Israel Defense Forces’ intensified security operation in Jenin entered its second day on Tuesday, and looked to be on track to achieving its goal of shattering the concept of Jenin as a terrorist haven out of reach of the Israeli military.
The operation exposed some of the systems set up by terrorists—consisting of local operatives as well as Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas members—that had made Jenin so challenging for ordinary Israeli security missions recently: War rooms where operatives received video feeds and radio communications from across the city, and coordinated the activities of gunmen; hundreds of weapons, large quantities of explosive devices hidden in underground bunkers; and the beginnings of a rocket production industry.
These threats, collectively dubbed by the defense industry as “terror infrastructure,” are being systematically eliminated by a brigade-sized IDF force comprising mostly special units, backed by unmanned aerial vehicle firepower, that moved into the city overnight Sunday.
Some 10 Palestinian combatants had been killed by Monday noon, with the majority of the remaining hundreds of terrorist gunmen choosing to go underground and avoiding clashing with the IDF, which surprised them with its entrance into the city from multiple directions. Dozens of terror suspects have been arrested.
As of Tuesday afternoon, there were no reports of noncombatant casualties, and the IDF has enabled civilians to evacuate Jenin Camp during the operation. Hagari stressed that air power was used in a minimal manner, precisely, to protect IDF units on the ground.
Due to the small-diameter munitions employed in the strike, none of the civilian sites were damaged.
A mosque in Jenin camp was found later on Sunday to have been used as a cover for terror activity, with a tunnel dug underneath it and a weapons storage center placed there, according to Hagari.
No less importantly, some 2,000 residents of Jenin traveled to work in Israel on Sunday, and over 100,000 Palestinians from Judea and Samaria worked in Israel, as goods continued to arrive in the city, and no curfew was placed on it.
So long as the power vacuum in the Jenin and Nablus sectors continues, PIJ, Hamas, Iran and local terror factions will be sure to fill the space, necessitating further such action.
Produced in association with Jewish News Syndicate
