JENIN: Nine Palestinians have been killed during an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank, the deadliest in years, Palestinian officials say.
A woman aged 61 was reported among the dead in the flashpoint town of Jenin. The Israeli military said its troops went in to arrest militants planning “major attacks”. The Palestinian presidency accused Israel of a “massacre” and later announced it had ended co-ordination with Israel on security matters.
A 10th Palestinian was meanwhile shot and killed during a confrontation with Israeli troops in the town of al-Ram, near Jerusalem, as residents protested against the Jenin raid, Palestinian officials said, reported international media.
Tensions have recently risen in the West Bank, as the Israeli military continues what it describes as an anti-terrorism offensive that began last April.
The sounds of gunfire and explosions echoed across Jenin refugee camp on Thursday morning, as Israeli troops surrounded buildings and clashed with Palestinians.
The Palestinian health ministry identified three of those killed as Magda Obaid, 61, Saeb Izreiqi, 24, and Izzidin Salahat, 26. Twenty people were also wounded, four of them seriously, it said.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said its troops entered Jenin to arrest a “terror squad”, who it accused of being “heavily involved in planning and executing multiple major terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers”.
It said forces surrounded a building and that three armed suspects were “neutralised” after they opened fire, while a fourth suspect surrendered. The IDF said troops were shot at by other Palestinian gunmen and returned fire, hitting targets. It added it was looking into “claims regarding additional casualties”.
Islamic Jihad and Hamas said their militants had targeted the troops with gunfire and improvised explosive devices. The house which the IDF said was being used as a hideout by the Islamic Jihad cell was still smouldering where furniture inside caught fire. The outer walls on the ground floor were reduced to rubble, leaving the taps and sink of a bathroom exposed. The upper floor was meanwhile pocked with bullet holes, while the stairwell contained a pool of blood.
Aisha Abu al-Naj, 73, who lives next door, told the BBC that her house shook during the raid, forcing her and her children to take cover. “We were afraid.
I saw the army and then I couldn’t open or look through the window. It was a scary situation,” she said. “There were some young Palestinians next to our building who then came and surrounded it. They shot at them. And then there was a lot of people who were killed.”
Magda Obaid’s daughter said her mother also lived near the targeted house, and that she was shot in the neck as she peered out of her window to see what was happening.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that seven youths were shot and wounded while attempting to prevent the Israeli forces from entering Jenin, and that the troops “completely destroyed” the Jenin Camp Club.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of national mourning in response to what his spokesman called a “massacre” happening “amidst international silence”. “This is what encourages the occupation government to commit massacres against our people in full view of the world,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh said.
Jenin Deputy Governor Kamal Abu al-Rub told AFP that residents were living in a “real state of war” and that Israeli forces were “destroying everything and shooting at everything that moves”.
Top Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri said that “the response of the resistance will not be late in coming”.