Eight Palestinians were killed and several were wounded during fierce clashes between Israeli troops and gunmen in the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday morning, health officials said.
In a brief statement, the Israel Defense Forces said it was operating in the Jenin refugee camp. It said it would provide further details later.
The Kan public broadcaster said the troops sought to arrest a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group member who was allegedly preparing an imminent major terror attack.
A local wing of PIJ said its members opened fire on the Israeli troops and detonated explosive devices in the area.
The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry said in a statement that eight Palestinians were killed, with several more wounded.
The clashes on Thursday morning marked likely the deadliest Israeli raid in the West Bank in years.
watched| Clashes continue between the resistance fighters and the occupation forces in Jenin camp. pic.twitter.com/PmUyv4KqPv
– Shehab News Agency (@ShehabAgency) January 26, 2023
The fatalities included an elderly woman, identified as Magda Obaid, 60, the ministry said. One of the slain men was named as 24-year-old Saeb Essam Mahmoud Azriqi.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Israel was “carrying out a massacre in Jenin amid international silence.”
Palestinian media reports estimated that the toll would rise further.
Explosions and gunfire could be heard in footage published by Palestinian media outlets.
Another clip purported to show Palestinian gunmen shooting down a small IDF surveillance drone.
watched| Resistance fighters shoot down a drone belonging to the occupation forces, which was flying in the Jenin camp. pic.twitter.com/QcgOQHHEgN
– Shehab News Agency (@ShehabAgency) January 26, 2023
In a separate statement, PA Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said that “occupation forces stormed Jenin Government Hospital and intentionally fired tear gas canisters at the pediatric department in the hospital.”
Hebrew-language media reports said Israel was anticipating possible rocket fire from the Gaza Strip in response to the deadly clashes. Over the past year, the PIJ has launched rockets at Israel in response to members being killed or arrested in the West Bank.
Tensions have recently soared in the West Bank as the IDF presses on with an anti-terror offensive mostly focused on the northern West Bank to deal with a series of attacks that have left 31 people in Israel dead in 2022.
Jenin is widely seen as a hotbed of terrorist activity, and has been the focus of many of the raids.
The IDF’s operation has netted more than 2,500 arrests in near-nightly raids. It also left 171 Palestinians dead in 2022, and another 21 since the beginning of the year, many of them while carrying out attacks or during clashes with security forces, though some were uninvolved civilians.
Agencies contributed to this report.
