In a signal that the operation could soon be completed, the Israeli military said it had 10 targets remaining in Jenin. Far-right members of the government have called for a long-term occupation of the city, which has emerged over the past year as a hotbed for Palestinian militancy.
“There is no point in the camp that we have not been, including the center,” Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesman, tweeted, adding that soldiers expected to engage with armed militants throughout the day on Tuesday.
The Israeli army said that overnight, it dismantled an “underground shaft that was used to store explosive devices in the heart of the Jenin Camp.” The statement added that soldiers destroyed “two operational situation rooms belonging to terrorist organizations in the area … a grenade launcher in the area of Jenin, and confiscated weapons and military equipment.”
Hagari said that all of the 10 Palestinians killed and 120 arrested since the start of the operation on Monday were combatants. According to the Red Cross, an estimated 3,000 Palestinians fled the camp overnight.
The prolonged ground incursion follows more than a year of near-nightly Israeli military raids that have focused on the Jenin camp and the surrounding area from where many of 50 Palestinians who attacked Israelis have originated.
As West Bank violence has spiraled, Israel has repeatedly asserted that it goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties in the crossfire. But the military raids which have in recent months become longer and more frequently during the day have killed many civilians. The types of battles being fought on the streets of Jenin are reminiscent of the Palestinian uprising from 2000 to 2005 known as the second intifada.
So far 2023 is on pace to become one of the deadliest years for Palestinians, with more than 150 fatalities.
Mahmoud Balas, 47, a resident of the Jenin refugee camp said that he, his wife and five children have been too afraid to flee their homes since the operation began on Monday, even as explosions and shootings boomed outside their doors, and electricity and water lines were disrupted by the fighting.
“It’s worse than 2002,” he said, referring to what became known as the Battle of Jenin which lasted more than a week and resulted in at least 50 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers killed.
“They are trying to bring the camp and its people to its knees, because it’s harming them,” added Balas. “But they will not succeed, God willing.”
The Israeli army has said that it has to carry out counterterrorism operations because the Palestinian Authority, which technically controls Jenin, is absent and militant groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other smaller organizations are in control.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was responsible for the escalation and that Jenin “has been and will remain unbreakable.”
Balousha reported from Gaza City. Sufian Taha in Jerusalem contributed to this report.