Israeli military operation in West Bank leaves 1 dead, 13 injured

An Israeli military operation in a refugee camp in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, left at least one Palestinian militant dead on Saturday.

The Israeli army said it responded to shots fired by a group of Palestinians during a counter-terrorism operation there. Also according to Israeli authorities, no soldiers were injured in the clash. It is not known whether the military arrested suspects in the action.

The radical Islamic Jihad faction claimed the dead man was one of its militants, and the Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry reported that 13 people were injured. Residents said Israeli soldiers surrounded the home of the family of Raed Hazem, 28, who opened fire and left three dead and more than 10 wounded at a bar in Tel Aviv last Thursday. The attacker was killed hours after the attack in an exchange of fire with Israeli security forces.

During the search for the attacker, Israeli authorities suspended public transport in central Tel Aviv and urged residents to stay at home.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Friday that the perpetrator of the Tel Aviv attack had accomplices and that they would pay a “very high price” and that he would grant “total freedom of action” to security forces to contain terrorist attacks. “Every murderer must know that we are going to get him, and anyone who helps terrorists must know that he will pay an unbearable price.”

Bennett faces his biggest crisis since coming to power in June last year. Last Wednesday (6), the eight-party coalition he leads lost the narrow majority it held in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, after the far-right deputy Idit Silman broke with the government.

The Tel Aviv attack was celebrated by the radical Palestinian factions Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but was condemned by the secular Fatah party and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Jenin is considered a bastion of Palestinian armed groups and has been the scene of several recent Israeli military operations. More than 20 Palestinians, many of them militants, have been killed by Israeli forces since January. Thursday’s attack in Tel Aviv was the latest in a string of terrorist attacks in Israel in recent weeks that have left 14 Israelis dead.

Palestinians have also reported an increase in violence by settlers and soldiers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories occupied by Israel since 1967. The increase in tension comes during Ramadan, Islam’s holy month, and on the eve of Pesach, Passover. Jewish as well as the Christian Passover.

During last year’s Ramadan, clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security agents took place at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem. The crisis escalated into a conflict between Israel and Hamas that ended with 232 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip and 13 Israelis killed by rockets fired from the Palestinian enclave.

Specialists point out that, in addition to the celebrations laden with tradition, another factor that may be the background of the attacks is the unwillingness of extremist groups with the strengthening of institutional relations between Israel and Arab countries. At the end of March, Israel hosted an unprecedented summit with foreign ministers from four Arab countries (Egypt, Morocco, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates) and the United States.

The target of Saturday’s operation, Jenin was the scene of a major Israeli military incursion 20 years ago, during the Palestinian uprising known as the Second Intifada. At least 53 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 23 Israeli soldiers died in ten days of fighting in the city.