By ILAN BEN ZION and MAJDI MOHAMMED (Associated Press)
JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) — Israeli navy forces raided a refugee camp within the northern West Bank on Monday, igniting the fiercest day of combating in years as Palestinian militants detonated roadside bombs and Israeli helicopter gunships struck Palestinian gunmen to rescue troops trapped within the hourslong firefight.
At least 5 Palestinians have been killed, together with a 15-year-old boy, and over 90 others have been wounded, Palestinian well being officers mentioned. Seven Israeli troopers have been additionally wounded, the military mentioned.
The Israeli navy mentioned forces stormed into the Jenin refugee camp within the early morning to arrest two needed militants. They confronted fierce resistance. Palestinian militants mentioned they ambushed Israeli armored autos with explosive gadgets, disabling a number of autos with troops trapped inside.
Israeli navy spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht described Palestinian militants’ use of not less than one highly effective roadside bomb as “very unusual and dramatic.” Five mangled autos have been caught within the firefight for hours, requiring the navy to dispatch helicopters as a part of an elaborate evacuation operation.
It was the primary such use of a helicopter gunship within the occupied West Bank for the reason that second Palestinian rebellion round twenty years in the past, Israeli media reported. The Jenin refugee camp, lengthy a militant stronghold, witnessed a few of the greatest battles on the time.
At least one Apache helicopter fired missiles at Palestinian gunmen to attempt to clear the world whereas safety forces labored to extract the trapped autos, the Israeli military mentioned. A loosely organized Palestinian militant group based mostly in Jenin mentioned its fighters opened hearth on the fight helicopter.
Witnesses described the almost 10 hours of combating as a bedlam of gunfire and explosions.
“They were shooting at anything and everything that moved,” hospital director Tawfik al-Shobaki mentioned of Israeli forces.
As the Israeli navy ultimately withdrew its broken autos from the camp within the late afternoon, Palestinians ventured out to evaluate the heavy harm and bury their lifeless. The native department of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad praised its fighters and warned Israel to “reconsider its calculations before its soldiers set foot on Jenin’s land.”
The Palestinian Health Ministry recognized these killed as Khaled Asasa, 21, Qassam Abu Sariya, 29, Qais Jabarin, 21, Ahmed Daraghmeh, 19, and 15-year-old Ahmed Saqr. Of the 91 Palestinians wounded, not less than 12 have been in vital situation, hospital officers mentioned. Wissam Bakar, director of Jenin Government Hospital, mentioned a 15-year-old lady was among the many critically wounded.
Islamic Jihad claimed two of the lifeless as its fighters — Qais Jabarin and Qassam Abu Sariya.
A Palestinian cameraman, Hazem Nasser, sporting a clearly marked press vest, was amongst these significantly wounded within the combating. His colleagues mentioned he was shot when a constructing the place journalists had camped out to cowl the clashes got here underneath Israeli hearth.
“Of course there was a lot of shooting and explosions, but everyone knew we were journalists covering it,” fellow freelance journalist Alaa Badarneh mentioned. “All of a sudden we were surrounded and the army started shooting toward us.”
An Associated Press journalist on the scene mentioned that he noticed the navy shoot instantly at Nasser. The Israeli navy didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the capturing.
Last yr, outstanding Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed whereas masking an Israeli navy raid into the Jenin refugee camp. The military has mentioned Abu Akleh was probably killed by Israeli hearth.
The Israeli navy mentioned that seven members of the paramilitary border police and the military suffered gentle and average wounds. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a go to to wounded troops within the hospital. He praised the forces and mentioned that Israel was “striking terror with strength and determination.”
The Palestinian management and different Arab states sharply condemned the Israeli raid.
Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Palestinian official, accused Israel of waging “a fierce and open war” in opposition to the Palestinian folks.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry denounced what it referred to as Israel’s “continued escalation against the Palestinians,” saying the violence undermined efforts to cut back regional tensions.
The escalation was the newest in additional than a yr of near-daily violence that has wracked the West Bank.
Israel and the Palestinians have been gripped by months of violence, targeted primarily within the West Bank, the place 124 Palestinians have been killed this yr. The metropolis of Jenin has been a hotbed of Palestinian militancy.
Israel captured the West Bank within the 1967 Mideast warfare, together with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians search these territories for a future unbiased state.
Israel has been staging near-nightly raids within the West Bank in response to a spasm of Palestinian violence early final yr. Palestinian assaults in opposition to Israelis have surged throughout that point. Israel says many of the lifeless have been militants, however stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and others not concerned in confrontations have additionally been killed.
Palestinian assaults in opposition to Israelis have killed not less than 20 folks this yr.
___
Ben Zion reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press author Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”