Seven Palestinians have been killed as part of the “broad anti-terror operation” carried out by the Israeli army in the city and district of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

In a statement published at 10:20 (local and Greek time) the Israeli army said that the exchange of fire in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin is continuing.

In addition to the 7 dead, the Palestinian ministry reported 27 wounded – seven of them seriously – during the clashes in Jenin.

In a separate incident, “a man was killed by (Israeli) occupation bullets at the northern entrance of al-Bireh, near Ramallah,” he added.

According to an army statement, “one soldier was slightly wounded by a grenade of the (Israeli) army during the operation” in Jenin and “was taken to the hospital.”

In another statement, at 07:00, the Israeli military indicated that the operation was continuing in the Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin, in the northern part of the West Bank.

“The city of Jenin and the camp of Jenin are currently a battle zone,” he clarified.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallad said the army was “acting against terrorist centers” in Jenin. “We will adopt a proactive and decisive stance against terrorism. Anyone who harms the citizens of Israel will pay a heavy price,” he stressed.

Surprise

“People knew we would probably go in, but the method of the airstrike—our target was in the center of the camp—took them by surprise,” Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman, told reporters.

“We are mainly targeting suspects,” he added, assuring that the army, which uses drones, is doing everything it can to ensure there are no civilian casualties.

According to Palestinian accounts, Israeli soldiers entered Jenin shortly after the airstrikes and engaged in fighting with armed Palestinians.

“There was aerial bombardment and a ground invasion,” said Mahmoud al-Saadi, director of the Red Crescent in Jenin. “Many houses and areas were bombed (…) Smoke is rising everywhere,” he added.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement said in a statement that “all possibilities are on the table to strike the enemy in response to its attack on Jenin.”

Jordan denounced “the recent attack against the city of Jenin”, while addressing an “emergency appeal to the international community (…) to end the Israeli attacks on the occupied Palestinian territories”, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Jenin, in the West Bank (north), has been a frequent target of Israeli military raids since 2022, amid escalating Israeli-Palestinian violence.

The Israeli army regularly raids the area, a stronghold of armed Palestinian groups that is theoretically under the control of President Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority.

In June, seven people were killed, including two 15-year-old youths, during an army raid on a Jenin refugee camp. Then the Israeli army fired rockets from a helicopter, something that has happened in the West Bank since 2002 and the second intifada.

At least 181 Palestinians, 25 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian have been killed since the start of the year, according to an AFP tally based on official sources.