The Israeli military operated a raid on the town of Jenin in the West Bank, killing at least nine Palestinians, Palestinian officials said.
According to BBC, the Israeli military claims “its troops went in to arrest Islamic Jihad militants planning ‘major attacks.’”
The attack injured at least 20 people and took place in the Jenin refugee camp.
“The situation in Jenin camp is very critical,” Mai al-Kaila, Palestine’s health minister, said, per The Washington Post. She also said the military forces stopped ambulances from providing care to those wounded and also “‘deliberately’ fired tear gas at a pediatric ward of a hospital,” per the Post.
The raid marks the “deadliest day for Palestinians in the West Bank in over a year,” CNN records report.
Why did Israel Special Forces attack Jenin in the West Bank?
Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency and Border Police released a joint statement saying that they had received a tip that there were “Islamic Jihad terror operatives” in the area and that three suspects were “neutralized” and one surrendered, per CNN.
The special forces hid in a dairy truck, arriving in the camp undetected. Once they arrived to where the suspects were staying, they attacked. Palestinian forces shot back, causing a gunfight. No Israeli soldiers were hurt during the raid, Axios reported.
One of the people killed was a 60-year-old woman, identified as Magda Obaid, the Times of Israel reported.
Palestinian Presidency spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said “the international silence encourages the Israeli government to commit crimes against the Palestinian people,” per Axios.
2022 saw the most Palestinian and Israeli deaths in the West Bank in nearly two decades, per CNN.