Israeli officer killed, 16 other soldiers injured in army invasion of Jenin refugee camp – Mondoweiss

The Israeli army announced this morning that an army officer was killed and 16 others were injured when an Israeli Panther military vehicle was attacked with an explosive device during a military incursion into the northern West Bank city of Jenin and the Jenin refugee camp. The army reported that the soldier’s injuries were moderate to severe.

The operation began with the infiltration by Israeli special forces of a pharmacy near the Jenin Government Hospital, where a group of Jenin’s political leaders had gathered. Among them were Jamal Huweil, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council and former veteran of the 2002 Battle of Jenin, Jamal al-Zubeidi, the father of martyrs Muhammad al-Zubeidi and Naeem al-Zubeidi, who were members of the Jenin Brigade, and Osama Abu Arab, a retired member of the Palestinian Authority.

After the special forces arrested all the people in the pharmacy, military reinforcements arrived from several entrances to the city of Jenin. They surrounded the pharmacy and the area around the Jenin refugee camp, while isolated armed clashes broke out in several areas.

The special unit detained the people in the pharmacy for three to four hours, conducted interrogations on the spot and arrested eight of them. Naeem Al-Saadi, one of the people who were in the pharmacy, said: Mondoweiss that he and his friends usually sit together in the pharmacy and were surprised when the special forces stormed in and put everyone in a corner.

They then divided them into two groups: those they wanted to arrest and those they wanted to release.

“They put eight of us in a side room,” he said. “Among those arrested were some who had come to see a radiologist at the nearby health center and another who had come to the pharmacy to buy medicine for his wife, who was in labor at the hospital next door.”

“The Panther’s Cemetery”

During the invasion, an armored personnel carrier was attacked with an explosive device, causing significant damage and casualties among Israeli soldiers. Israel’s Channel 12 revealed the details of the “serious” incident during the early morning attack, which left one army officer dead and 16 other soldiers injured.

In an exclusive interview with MondoweissA member of the Jenin Brigade explained that the explosion was only a small part of what the resistance had prepared for a possible raid or attack by the occupying forces on Jenin and the camp.

“Denin will be the cemetery of the Panthers,” he said, referring to previous incidents in which Israeli military vehicles, particularly Panthers, were destroyed by explosive devices.

Last year in June, resistance groups in Jenin blew up a Panther aircraft carrier during an Israeli attack, prompting the Israeli Defense Forces to request reinforcements and air support from an Apache helicopter. Following the damage sustained by the Panther at that time, the Israeli Defense Forces carried out a large-scale invasion of the Jenin refugee camp within 48 hours on July 3, 2023.

Channel 12 said the operation targeted Hamas infrastructure in the Jenin refugee camp, explaining that Israeli troops entered the camp from several directions simultaneously while military D9 bulldozers conducted a “sweep” of the area to ensure there were no explosives.

According to the army, it was a double ambush with two explosive devices. The first targeted a modern troop transport called Panther, the second targeted the rescue force that arrived in the area. Numerous people were injured.

“At this stage, the vehicle was hit by the explosive device and exploded immediately. The soldiers in the vehicle suffered minor head injuries and the explosive device did not penetrate the vehicle. A rescue team immediately moved out to evacuate the injured from the vehicle and infantry forces arrived to rescue them. Officer Skajiyo was killed in the process,” the Israeli army said in a statement.

Initial assessments indicate that the homemade explosive devices were buried at a depth of about 1.5 meters, deeper than the excavation site of the D9 bulldozer. The D9 cleared the way for the military vehicles, but was unable to detect the explosive devices due to their depth.

The explosive devices were prepared in an ambush on the Marj Ibn Amer plain. The Israeli army is currently investigating whether they were detonated by wire or wirelessly. The Jenin Brigade issued a statement claiming that it detonated homemade explosive devices against Israeli military vehicles, resulting in direct casualties.

The Israeli army radio station confirmed that the Israeli army in the West Bank is facing an increasing threat from more complex mines and bombs. It pointed out that “the planning of the double explosion was based on a careful analysis of the path of the invasion and withdrawal operations carried out by the Israeli army.”

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the al-Qassam Brigades (the military wings of Fatah and Hamas respectively) in Jenin claimed responsibility for the shootings against the Israeli army during the attack on the city and the refugee camp.

During the attack, the Israeli army destroyed the infrastructure of the camp and several neighborhoods. There are growing fears that the Israeli army may launch a major retaliatory attack in the coming hours or days, especially given the high number of casualties among Israeli forces and in light of previous large-scale invasions of the camp after damaging army vehicles.