At least four Palestinians have been killed and 45 others wounded in fierce gun battles between Israeli forces and militants during a raid in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said.
The fighting is the first time Israeli forces have deployed helicopter gunships to the West Bank since the end of the second intifada in 2005, the latest in a escalation of violence that has engulfed the region for more than a year.
Palestinian health officials said a 15-year-old boy was among the dead and nine of the wounded were in serious condition. The Israeli military said seven personnel – two soldiers and five border police – were injured in the fighting and had been evacuated for treatment.
The Israeli military said it launched a raid on the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Monday aimed at arresting two people, saying there had been a “massive firefight” with militants.
A military spokesman said a military vehicle was hit by a “pretty advanced” explosive device around 7 a.m. and helicopters were deployed to provide covering fire while they tried to evacuate troops from the damaged vehicle.
The attack was the latest in a series of confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants since Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest government, widely regarded as the most right-wing in Israeli history, came to power in December At one time, ultra-nationalists pledged a tougher stance against Palestinians in key security posts.
As the fighting unfolded on Monday, Bizarel Smotridge, a hardline settler and Israeli Defense Minister, demanded a more aggressive approach, saying Israel should “replace the tweezers with broad operations” in the northern West Bank. activities”, “to restore deterrence””.
“Now is the time to use the Air Force and Armor,” he tweeted. “I will call for an emergency cabinet meeting on the matter.”
Hussein Sheikh, a senior Palestinian Authority official, accused Israel of waging a “violent and open war… . . against the Palestinian people”.
“We are in the middle of an all-out battle and we need our people to come together in the face of this aggression,” he said. wrote on twitter.
Even before Monday’s fighting, this year was already shaping up to be the bloodiest in more than a decade in the West Bank. According to the latest United Nations figures, Israeli forces have killed 114 Palestinians in the territory this year, while Palestinians have killed 16 Israelis.
Israel began carrying out almost nightly attacks in the West Bank last year as Palestinian attacks on Israelis increased. However, Palestinian analyst Jalal Abukhater said the attacks had little impact on support for militant groups in cities such as Jenin and Nablus.
“The use of gunships today . . . is an indicator that Israel’s bloody escalation over the past 18 months has so far failed to stop Palestinian armed resistance in the occupied West Bank,” he said.