The occupied West Bank lives a day of mourning, after Israeli forces entered its territory on June 19 in what they called a “military operation.” The balance: at least five Palestinians dead, 91 wounded and seven Israeli soldiers injured. The UN and the Arab League condemned the events and various complaints were made known that branded the series of raids as “ethnic cleansing.”
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The sun was barely rising in the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin when the Israeli army launched what it called a military operation, seeking to “capture two suspects.”
But pro-Palestinian militants responded quickly and violent clashes broke out for several hours.
“The level of friction was very intense, we were not surprised but it became much more intense. There was a massive amount of fire against the forces that affects the way we operate there,” said Richard Hecht, spokesman for the Israeli army.
A helicopter fired several missiles at armed men, with whom they sought to extract soldiers from the area, as well as five Army vehicles were bombed and were trapped with their crew members on board, according to the Israeli authorities.
💥 This is how one of the Israeli armored vehicles was left after the occupation army’s attempt to raid the city of Jenin in the West Bank. The capacity of the Palestinian resistance increases every day to stop the Israeli aggressions pic.twitter.com/IAycpjb8PB
– SANA in Spanish (@Agencia_Sana) June 19, 2023
Seven Israeli soldiers were wounded. While the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that among the five deceased is a 15-year-old teenager and that a girl suffered a “critical head injury.”
The Palestinian authorities asked for blood donations and medical supplies for Jenin’s hospitals, which have collapsed after the clashes.
Israeli raids in the West Bank are frequent, occurring almost daily for more than a year, but the one on June 19 has been especially violent.
The deployment of helicopters against Palestinians has not happened since the Second Intifada, in the early 2000s, just as there have not been so many Israeli injuries for a long time.
At least two Palestinians were arrested during the military action and another 12 were subsequently caught in five different raids, according to the official Palestinian agency Wafa.
They denounce attacks against ambulances
The Red Crescent reported that Israeli forces fired live ammunition attacks on two ambulances and that an Israeli-flagged military vehicle intentionally collided with an ambulance to prevent its arrival.
According to the humanitarian organization, the Israeli forces prevented ambulances from reaching the victims of the Jenin raid, a serious accusation that would go against the principles of International Humanitarian Law.
A Journalist Hazem Nasser was shot in his abdomen by Israeli occupation forces, while he was covering the aggression on Jenin.
His condition is serious pic.twitter.com/M4iRN7lAcW
—Younis | يونس (@ytirawi) June 19, 2023
In addition, the Wafa agency reported that Naser Hazem, a Palestinian journalist from the media ‘Al-Ghad’, was wounded in the abdomen with a bullet from Israeli soldiers.
During the first half of 2023, the deaths of 129 Palestinians have been reported, including 22 minors, most of whom have been left as a result of armed clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces.
The UN expresses its concern about the escalation of violence
Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, spoke after learning of the escalation of violence in Jenin and denounced the increase in the excessive use of force by Israel in the occupied West Bank.
The UN official assured that “extrajudicial executions” are being carried out by Israel, which are causing forced displacements, demolition of houses and more conflicts in the area.
During a speech in Geneva, Türk denounced that Israel refuses to cooperate with the supervision of human rights by international organizations, since it has been three years without issuing visas for international observers.
The Arab League calls the attacks “ethnic cleansing”
The League of Arab States condemned the events in Jenin and branded the military operation as a “colonialist expansion”, in addition to ensuring that they seek to carry out “ethnic cleansing” against the Palestinians.
The deputy secretary of the Arab League for Palestinian Affairs, Saied Abu Ali, was in charge of issuing the statements, assuring that it is a “very serious” situation.
For their part, Egypt and Jordan –belonging to the Arab League– spoke individually, assuring that this type of event only aggravates the situation of violence in the area.
With EFE, Reuters and local media
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