During the occupation forces’ storming of Jenin camp, December 14, 2023 (Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency)
Advertise The Israeli occupation armyToday, Thursday, an Israeli officer from the Kfir Brigade was killed and 16 soldiers were injured, after they were targeted by an explosive device, during a military operation last night in the Jenin camp in the northern West Bank. The occupation army confirmed that a sniper squad leader was killed as a result of the explosion of a very powerful explosive device, planted deep in the ground at the entrance to the camp.
According to the information disclosed by the occupation army so far, in addition to the killing of the officer, the explosion of the explosive device and another device resulted in the injury of 16 soldiers, the wounds of one of whom were described as serious, and five moderate injuries were recorded, one of which was an officer. As for the rest of the soldiers, their injuries were described as minor, as a result of smoke and shrapnel, and they were all transferred to Israeli hospitals for treatment.
The occupation forces stormed Jenin camp last night, resulting in clashes with the resistance fighters, including the detonation of explosive devices. The “Jerusalem Brigades – Jenin Brigade” said in a statement that it had detonated a number of pre-prepared explosive devices in the occupation vehicles storming the city of Jenin and its camp, confirming that direct casualties had been achieved.
Details of the Jenin camp ambush
The initial investigation by the occupation army revealed that large forces stormed Jenin and its surroundings last night, as part of an additional campaign to arrest “wanted” Palestinians, and to search for combat equipment, similar to the army’s operations in refugee camps in the occupied West Bank in recent months. According to the investigation, “a dual engineering force, including a bulldozer and a D9 tracked bulldozer, opened the movement axis of one of the forces, north of the Jenin camp, to uncover explosive devices. However, two of the devices, which were planted at an unusual depth underground – at least a meter and a half deep – were not discovered by either the force or the engineering forces.” The investigation added: “After that, an armored vehicle passed by, including the military medical team accompanying the operation, and climbed onto the first explosive device, which led to its explosion.
The soldiers who were in the medical team’s vehicle announced that they were slightly injured as a result of the smoke, while another force headed to the place in order to assist them and free them from the place, and a footman entered the point where they were located. Meanwhile, another huge explosion occurred, apparently after the second explosive device was activated remotely by resistance members who had prepared the area in advance and monitored it, according to Israeli estimates. The occupation army estimates that the other explosive device was also planted at least one and a half meters deep in the ground. Its explosion led to the death of the officer, head of the snipers section of the military patrol, and the injury of other soldiers.
Greater reliance on explosive devices
The occupation army forces rushed to provide treatment to all the wounded and rescue them, and at the same time continued their raid and military operation, with the participation of hundreds of soldiers. According to the Israeli army, its forces found evidence at the site indicating the existence of different methods of operating explosive devices, including wired and wireless operation. All forces left the area this morning “after completing their tasks.” The occupation army’s investigations into the circumstances of the incident are continuing, and the behavior of the rescue force is being examined and how it carried out the process of evacuating the soldiers injured by the explosion of the first explosive device, as there is an organized procedure in such cases, which includes a safe “unloading area” to avoid falling into the trap of an explosive device field.
In recent months, the West Bank Division of the Israeli occupation army has noticed an increase in the Palestinian resistance’s reliance on explosive devices, in terms of manufacturing them and using them against its forces, such that they booby-trapped the axes and roads leading to refugee camps and other locations in the West Bank. Therefore, the occupation army claims that its activities in such night military operations focus on monitoring explosives laboratories, arresting experts in preparing explosive devices, and accessing raw explosive materials. The Central Command of the occupation army warned that the day when such devices will be used against Israeli targets on both sides of the Green Line is not far away.
Jenin city and its camp have always been known as one of the strongholds of the Palestinian resistance in the West Bank. The city has witnessed a significant escalation in the confrontation with the occupation forces since the beginning of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which included violent clashes and targeting the occupation with homemade explosive devices, while the Israeli occupation has used drones more than once to bomb targets in the camp. The daily clashes with the occupation forces have left a number of martyrs and great destruction to the infrastructure and homes, due to the occupation’s deliberate bulldozing of the narrow streets of the camp in order to reach the areas it targets, and in order to exhaust the local community, which is the most prominent incubator of the resistance.