Ramallah, occupied West Bank – Four Palestinians have been killed and more than 40 others injured during an Israeli military raid on a refugee camp in Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank.
The raid began with dozens of Israeli military vehicles entering the camp at approximately 9am (06:00 GMT).
The Palestinian ministry of health said on Wednesday morning that the men killed were Ahmad Alawneh (26), Abed Hazem (27), Mohammad al-Wanneh (30), and Mohammad Abu Naa’sah.
Al Jazeera’s Walid al-Omari, reporting from Ramallah, said that the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade had said that three of the men killed were members of the Palestinian armed group.
At least 44 others were injured, according to the ministry.
Local media said Ahmad Alawneh was 24 years old and worked as a Palestinian Authority (PA) intelligence officer. Surveillance camera footage circulated by local journalists of the moment he was killed showed him exchanging fire with Israeli forces.
Abed Hazem and al-Wannah were killed when Hazem’s father’s home was hit by a missile. Abed was the brother of Raad Hazem, who carried out an attack in Tel Aviv in April, killing three people, before being killed by police himself.
Plumes of smoke were seen after the missile exploded in the house. The army then proceeded to encircle the home, during which heavy armed clashes broke out with Palestinian fighters.
The Israeli army said that it had shot dead “two suspects involved in a number of recent shooting attacks”.
Clashes were continuing at midday. In addition to armed Palestinian fighters exchanging gunfire with the Israeli army, young Palestinians threw rocks at the entrance to the Jenin refugee camp, which Israeli forces responded to with live ammunition and tear gas.
Outrage among Palestinians was further heightened as photos shared online appeared to show that the body of Alwaneh had been desecrated, reportedly by an Israeli soldier.
Authorities and political parties declared a day of mourning and general strike with stores closed in the majority of West Bank cities including Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron.
On September 6, Israeli forces raided Jenin and blew up an apartment that belonged to Raad Hazem, killing a 29-year-old Palestinian man and injuring 16 others.
Israel regularly carries out punitive demolitions of the homes of Palestinians who have carried out attacks against Israelis, something human rights organisations have described as “collective punishment”.
Israeli forces have been conducting near-nightly raids and killings in the northern occupied West Bank, mainly in Jenin and Nablus, where Palestinian armed resistance is becoming more organised and new groups of fighters have been formed.
More than 150 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the 1967-occupied territories since the start of the year, including 51 in the besieged Gaza Strip during Israel’s three-day assault in August. More than 30 of those killed were either from Jenin or were killed in the Jenin region in the occupied West Bank.
Twenty people have been killed in attacks carried out by Palestinians in Israel and the occupied West Bank in 2022.
