2023-07-03 18:57:08
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has suspended contact and security coordination with Israel because of the Israeli army’s large-scale offensive in the West Bank. This was announced by Abbas’ office on Monday evening. According to Palestinian sources, at least eight people were killed during the extensive military operation with drones and hundreds of soldiers in the occupied West Bank that started on Monday night.
The Palestinian President’s decision came Monday after Abbas met with other senior Palestinian Authority officials. Abbas has temporarily suspended coordination with Israel during previous outbreaks of violence.
During the course of the day on Monday, shots and explosions were repeatedly heard from the city of Jenin, where Israeli troops and fighters from the militant Jenin Brigades fought each other. At least six drones were seen at times over the city and adjacent refugee camp, where 14,000 people live in less than half a square kilometer. According to an Israeli military spokesman, the operation could take hours or even days. A person familiar with the military’s plans said in the afternoon it would take at least 24 hours.
The army spoke of a deployment of one brigade, which would correspond to 1,000 to 2,000 soldiers. A spokesman said the goal is to counter the attitude that the camp is a safe haven. It had become “a hornet’s nest”. A weapons factory and an explosives depot were hit, as well as a building that served as a command center for the Jenin Brigades. The militia was made up of fighters from various Palestinian groups in the camp of the same name. For her part, she reported skirmishes with Israeli troops and the shooting down of a drone. The city of Jenin said Israeli armored bulldozers plowed up the camp’s streets, cutting off the city’s water supply.
A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described the operation as “a new war crime against our defenseless people.” The Palestinian response may depend on whether fighters from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip also participate. Islamic Jihad, the second most powerful armed group there, said all options were on the table.
Even before the most recent escalation, Jenin was considered the center of the spiral of violence in the Middle East. For more than a year there have been numerous military operations there, which Israel says were directed against suspected extremists. The military responded to a series of Palestinian attacks in Israeli towns and settlements. After the previous major raid in Jenin, Palestinian fighters killed four more Israelis near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. As a result, Jewish settlers devastated Palestinian villages in the occupied territory.
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