Israel: Army strikes West Bank city of Jenin

The Israeli military said Monday it was hitting targets in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin as part of an "extensive counterterrorism effort." The effort was primarily aimed at a command center the Israeli military said was being used by militant fighters inside a refugee camp beside the city. 

The Palestinian Health Ministry has said that eight people were killed as a result of the strikes and more than 50 injured. Ten of those wounded were critically injured, according to the ministry. 

The Israeli daily Haaretz cited the Israeli army as saying that one Israeli soldier was lightly wounded by grenade shrapnel and taken to a hospital.

An Israeli army spokesperson, Richard Hecht, told reporters that as many as seven militants were believed to have been killed. Hecht said that some 2,000 soldiers were taking part in the operation and that military drones had carried out a series of strikes.

According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, the Israeli military set up road blocks in the camp and occupied houses and buildings, while placing snipers on rooftops.

The army said it has targeted a weapons storage facility, with Haaretz saying a laboratory manufacturing explosives and parts of a rocket launcher had been confiscated, along with other weapons.

Haaretz also cited army sources as saying that Israeli soldiers were conducting weapons searches in the camp, with 20 Palestinians arrested so far.

Officials have indicated that Israeli forces could remain in the camp for days. "An operation doesn't end in one day," Energy Minister Israel Katz, a member of the security cabinet, told Army radio.

US urges caution

The US State Department stressed the importance of taking "all possible precautions to prevent the loss of civilian lives" during the Israeli military strikes.

"We support Israel's security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups," the Reuters news agency quoted a US State Department spokesperson as saying Monday.

The European Union, the United States, Japan and several other nations have named Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad as terrorist organizations.

Escalating tensions

Jenin and its adjacent refugee camp have seen multiple confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants over past weeks and international observers have expressed concern about an increase in violence in the area. Last month, Israel killed three gunmen near Jenin, in the first drone strike in the West Bank since 2006. 

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 147 Palestinians have been killed this year with 23 Israelis killed over the same period.

tj, jsi/ab (dpa, AFP, Reuters, AP)