A raid by the Israeli army that resulted in exchanges of fire with fighters left three Palestinians dead on Thursday, December 8, in the Jenin camp, a hotbed of tension in the north of the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of health.
"Three martyrs were killed by Israeli occupation bullets during a dawn operation against the Jenin camp", a stronghold of the Palestinian armed factions, the ministry said, without identifying the three people killed.
But according to Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin, they are Atta Shalabi, Sidqi Zakarneh and Tareq Damej.
The Islamic Jihad, an armed Palestinian Islamist group established in particular in the Jenin camp, one of whose local leaders was killed last week during an Israeli raid, reported heavy exchanges of fire between its fighters and Israeli soldiers in the aftermath of the operation.
The Israeli army, for its part, announced that it had carried out an operation early Thursday with special forces in Jenin where it arrested Khaled al-Hija, a Palestinian suspected of "terrorist activity".
"During this operation, suspects threw explosive devices and targeted soldiers with live ammunition who returned fire with live ammunition," the army said in a statement.
More than 2,000 raids in the West Bank since last spring
More than 40 Palestinians have been killed during Israeli operations this year in the Jenin area alone, including many fighters but also star Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
The Jenin raid comes against a backdrop of rising tensions in recent months in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 by Israel, which has established colonies there where more than 475,000 people live today.
On Wednesday, a Palestinian suspected by Israel of being involved in an attack on soldiers near the settlement of Ofra, was killed by Israeli forces after a chase.
Mujahid Mahmoud Hamed, 32, was also suspected of being behind attacks in recent days, according to the army.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement released a statement with a photo of Hamed and a gun, portraying him as a "martyr".
Family members told AFP he spent 11 years in an Israeli prison, from which he was released about a year ago.
Since a wave of anti-Israeli attacks last spring, Israeli forces have carried out more than 2,000 raids in the West Bank, operations that frequently result in clashes with the population or local fighters.
At least 150 Palestinians and 26 Israelis have been killed since the start of the year in the West Bank, Israel and Jerusalem.
Israel has occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the Six Day War in 1967.
The US State Department also said last Friday "seriously concerned about the intensification of violence in the West Bank", the scene of its deadliest violence in seven years according to the UN.
The West Bank has reached the "boiling point", the UN's chief mediator for the Middle East Tor Wennesland said recently.
With AFP
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