Israel Launches Major Military Op In West Bank – Conflict Could Spread

ANALYSIS – In what could expand to a wider conflict, Israel has launched a major military operation into the West Bank Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin.

Launched early on Monday, the raid involving hundreds of commandos, drone and airstrikes prompted the Palestinian Authority (PA) to furiously say it was suspending contacts with Israel.

Since then, in what appears to be the most extensive Israeli military operation in the territory in years, there have been Israeli drone strikes and gun battles between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants. (RELATED: Israel Launches Biggest Military Incursion Into West Bank In 20 Years)

Israel calls it a ‘counterterrorism' operation and says the objective is to uproot Iranian-backed Palestinian factions behind a surge in gun and bomb attacks as well as initial efforts to make rockets.

The Israelis say they are also intent on breaking “the safe haven mindset of the camp, which has become a hornet's nest.”

The US expressed its support for what it called “Israel's security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups.” (RELATED: Fox News Bows To Pressure From Liberal Media, Alters Language When Referring To Terrorists)

During the past 18 months Palestinian militants behind some 50 attacks targeting Israelis have come from Jenin, according to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

Since the beginning of 2023, reported the BBC, more than 140 Palestinians – both militants and civilians – have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, while another 36 have been killed in the Gaza Strip.

Twenty-four Israelis, two foreigners and a Palestinian worker have been killed in attacks or terrorist attacks by Palestinians inside Israel and the West Bank. All were civilians except one off-duty serving soldier and a member of the Israeli security forces.

To highlight the military-targeted nature of this operation, the first Israeli drone strike reportedly targeted an apartment that the IDF said was being used as a safe haven for Palestinian militants who had been attacking Israelis. The site was also used as a “joint operational command center” for the Jenin Brigades – a unit made up of different Palestinian militant groups including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Jenin is now declared a closed Israeli military zone, and the IDF has cut off telephone communications and the electricity supply to the camp.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had evacuated around 3,000 people from the camp, where some 14,000-18,000 people live in a quarter square mile area which has been one of the focal points of a wave of violence that has swept the West Bank for more than a year.

Jenin first exploded onto world news twenty-one years ago in 2002, during the second Palestinian intifada, when Israeli forces launched a full-scale incursion that the Palestinians called a massacre. (RELATED: House Speaker Says He Will Invite Israel's Prime Minister If Biden Won't)

At the time, at least 52 Palestinian militants and civilians and 23 Israeli soldiers were killed during 10 days of intense fighting.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said, according to the BBC, that “the current plan was not to expand the military operation outside Jenin, but already Palestinian protests have reached the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip. And the longer this action goes on in Jenin, the greater the risk of another dangerous, wider escalation.”

Meanwhile, a Palestinian rammed a pickup truck into pedestrians in Tel Aviv and then went on a stabbing rampage on Tuesday in an attack claimed by the Hamas militant group.

The attack reportedly wounded eight people.

Hamas said the attack was in retaliation for the ongoing military raid in Jenin. And Iran may use its other proxies to step up attacks on Israelis.

While this Israeli military operation was clearly needed, it may not remain limited for long.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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