At least 10 dead Palestinians, and 50 injured, 10 seriously, is the latest toll from the bloody clashes in the West Bank after thethe Israeli military operation in Jenin which started in the early hours of Monday. Twenty Palestinians have been arrested by the Israeli armed forces

“The company could be extended and in other parts of the West Bank” clarified a representative of the Israeli army. The expansion of the military operation is expected to trigger a new flare-up of violence.

Israeli Armed Forces Video on Jenin:

Israel “ends” in the safe haven of terror that the West Bank city of Jenin had become, the prime minister said for his part Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Our forces entered Jenin to deal with terrorists – they are killing terrorists, arresting wanted persons, destroying command centers and seizing a significant amount of weapons. They are also doing something else – they are destroying factories on an almost industrial scale,” Netanyahu continued.

“Workshops in which were created explosively. Explosives intended to massacre and kill Israeli civilians,” continued the Israeli prime minister.

The leadership of the Palestinian Authority, whose representatives strongly condemned the Israeli counter-terrorist operation, held an emergency meeting in Ramallah on Monday night to discuss ways of responding to the events in Jenin.

In a statement before the meeting, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated his call for international protection for Palestinians. He also asked her imposing sanctions on Israeldenouncing the “terrorist attack” against Jenin.

“Israel will continue the military operation for as long as it takes” to “break the mentality” that Jenin is “a safe haven for terrorists”, explained the spokesman of the Israeli armed forces.

Israel

Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told the BBC that “there was a consensus in our leadership that this is a much-needed operation” that could take days.

“We are in the middle of this business. We are not there to hold ground or stay there, we are focused on specific goals in the camp. So it might take hours or maybe a day or two, as needed, to break the mentality that this place is a safe haven for terrorists,” he said.

Asked why the operation in the refugee camp was launched now, he pointed to the “excessive scale of attacks” against Israelis by people operating inside Jenin.
He clarified that Israel’s mission would focus only on Jenin and that anyone who surrendered would be arrested by Israeli soldiers.

“But most of these people they shoot at us”he replied, when asked about the reported casualties, of which eight have been confirmed so far.

Israel

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Staiyeh said that “the heroic camp of Jenin is defending itself against the occupation and its invasions.”

For its part, Hamas warned that is “ready to step in”

If Israel “takes it too far” and “persists in its aggression” in Jenin, we will intervene, said a spokesman for the militant organization in Gaza. A senior Hamas official has called on youth in the West Bank to join the fighting.

THE White House is closely monitoring the situation in the West Bank.

“We have seen the reports and are closely monitoring the situation,” a White House spokesman said.

“We support safety of Israel and the right to defend its people from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organizations”.

At the same time, the Israeli army announced that it needs at least 24 hours to complete the operation that began in the city of Jenin in the early hours of today, said an official briefed on military planning.

The military has so far refused to say how long the operation will last, saying only that it could last more than a day and that its forces will remain there for as long as necessary.