Three Palestinians were killed during intense clashes between gunmen and Israeli troops in the northern West Bank city of Jenin before dawn on Thursday, Palestinian Authority Health Ministry said.
Palestinian media reports said the Israeli military had entered the city and the adjacent Jenin refugee camp, as well as the nearby town of Qabatiya.
A local wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group claimed to have opened fire on Israeli troops and hurled explosives at them.
Heavy gunfire could be heard in videos published online.
The PA Health Ministry confirmed the deaths but did not identify the victims. They were named in unconfirmed social media posts as Sidqi Zakarneh, Atta Shalabi, and Tariq al-Damej.
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Images circulating online showed Zakarneh and al-Damej brandishing assault rifles, indicating they were members of local armed groups.
اقمار مدينة جنين ..
الشهيد المجاهد صدقي زكارنه – جنين
الشهيد المجاهد عطا شلبي – قباطيه الشهيد المجاهد طارق الدمج – مخيم جنين pic.twitter.com/OWEgPxPDGi— إسراء درويش (@isra_darwish) December 8, 2022
Arabic media reports said that additional Palestinians were injured in the raid, without specifying further.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli security forces on the raids, and there were no immediate reports of Israeli injuries in the operation.
It was also initially unclear how many Palestinians, if any, were arrested in the raid.
تغطية صحفية: مقاومون يستهدفون آليات الاحتـــلال خلال اقتحام جنين. pic.twitter.com/73mLEqtN3f
— Jmedia (@Jmediaps) December 8, 2022
Tensions have been high in the West Bank over the past year, with the IDF launching a major anti-terror offensive mostly focused on the northern West Bank to deal with a series of Palestinian attacks that have left 31 people in Israel and the West Bank dead since the start of the year.
The operation has netted more than 2,500 arrests in near-nightly raids, but has also left more than 160 Palestinians dead, many of them — but not all — while carrying out attacks or during clashes with security forces.
Many of the deadly clashes have occurred in the Jenin and Nablus area, where the Israeli forces have repeatedly conducted arrest operations. Last Thursday, two Palestinian terror operatives were killed during a gun battle with Israeli special forces in Jenin.
In recent months, Palestinian gunmen have also repeatedly targeted military posts, troops operating along the West Bank security barrier, Israeli settlements and civilians on the roads.
On Wednesday afternoon, a Palestinian gunman was shot dead after he opened fire on a military post near the settlement of Ofra, fled, and opened fire again on troops who chased after him.
The IDF has recorded around 300 shooting attacks and attempts against Israeli civilians and soldiers in the West Bank this year, compared to just 91 last year.
