In the days since a cease-fire agreement was reached in the Gaza Strip, Israel has turned its attention to a Palestinian city about 75 miles northeast of the enclave — which has seen a long history of resistance and military activity. There is history.
On Wednesday, as some of its troops withdrew from Gaza, the Israeli army said it was moving ahead with an operation in the northern city of Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The city has been a hotbed of militancy for decades and has been the target of raids by Israeli security forces.
Since the war in Gaza began, Hamas has become increasingly popular and asserts its presence in the West Bank. Iran – which supports Hamas and other militant groups in the region – has bombarded the region with weapons. And the Palestinian Authority, which co-rules parts of the West Bank with Israel, has seen its fragile influence erode further.
Israel now seems to be focusing its attention on the West Bank and Jenin in particular. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel’s latest operation was aimed at “ending terrorism” and would be “broad and significant”.
Here’s what to know about Jenin and the latest Israeli action.
What’s going on?
An Israeli army spokesman said on Wednesday that 10 militants were “killed” during the operation in Jenin, without giving further details. Earlier, Israel said it had killed eight militants since the start of the raid.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health says that since the beginning of the raid, 10 people have been killed in Jenin and its suburbs. And Palestinian officials quoted Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, as saying that at least four people were injured in the city on Wednesday.
Other cities in the West Bank were also targeted in the raids. The Palestinian Authority’s Prisoner Affairs Commission said Israeli forces had arrested at least 25 Palestinians in the West Bank since Tuesday evening.
Why is Israel targeting the West Bank?
Since October 7, 2023, following the Hamas-led attack on Israel, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has been losing support to factions such as Hamas that support armed struggle and actively fight against Israel. A poll By the Palestine Center for Policy and Survey Research.
Meanwhile, deadly Israeli raids and attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank have increased. Israeli leaders say the military raids are aimed at countering terrorism in the region.
Outgoing Israeli army chief of staff Lt. Col. Herzi Halvi said in a speech on Tuesday that his forces had killed 794 militants in the West Bank since the war in Gaza began. “In most cases, we thwarted the threat before the terrorists reached Israeli citizens,” he said.
Who is arming the militants?
According to US, Israeli and Iranian officials, Iran operates a secret smuggling route throughout the Middle East, employing intelligence operatives, militants and criminal groups to deliver weapons to Palestinians in the West Bank. Iranian officials have said the aim is to fuel unrest against Israel by flooding the area with weapons.
Israeli security forces have carried out a large-scale crackdown across the West Bank, saying it is part of Israel’s counter-terrorism efforts against Hamas and other armed factions.
What is the Palestinian leadership doing?
The Palestinian Authority is the governing body in some areas of the occupied West Bank. In December, its security forces launched a crackdown on militants in and around Jenin, where the authority has lost control. The region is known as a stronghold of militant groups, including Hamas, that call for armed resistance against Israel.
The Palestinian Authority emerged from a peace process between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the 1990s that was supposed to lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state, but never happened.
In practice, the Israeli army – the occupying force in the region – maintains security control over Palestinian cities. The Palestinian Authority handles some local affairs, including garbage collection, education, hospitals and schools, and has its own security forces that coordinate with their Israeli counterparts but have limited powers.
Jenin has long been a symbol of resistance.
The city’s reputation for resistance dates back to the 1930s, when Palestinians took up arms against British rule over Palestine. Arab Revolt.
Later, in the wake of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War that saw the creation of modern Israel and the flight or expulsion of millions of Palestinians, Jenin cemented its reputation as a city that never surrendered. When Palestinian fighters, backed by Iraqi troops, repulsed an Israeli attempt to take it.
The city is home to one of the original refugee camps established for Palestinians displaced by the war.
In 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank after a war with neighboring Arab states. Jenin’s resonance today, for both Palestinians and Israelis, stems largely from the second intifada, or uprising, against that Israeli occupation in the early 2000s.
Israelis remember the city as the source of dozens of suicide bombers sent into Israel at the time, and Palestinians remember a 10-day battle between militants and Israeli forces in 2002 that left 52 Palestinians dead, including Up to half were civilians. To United Nations.
Jenin has often been the target of raids by Israeli forces. Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which controls Gaza, have recruited in Jenin. And in recent years, new militias loosely affiliated with more established groups have emerged among a younger generation disillusioned with a Palestinian leadership they see as corrupt and enabling the Israeli occupation.
Lara Jacques, Raja Abdul Rahim, Isabel Kirshner, Erica Solomon Aaron Boxerman Cooperation reporting.
