By Ali Sawafta
JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) – One Palestinian was killed and another was critically wounded by Israeli forces during an operation in a refugee camp in the city of Jenin on Friday, Palestinian officials said, as months of clashes in the occupied West Bank continued.
A statement from the Israeli military said troops came under heavy fire during the operation, in which an armed operative of the militant Hamas group and two other people were arrested. It said the troops returned fire and “hits were identified”.
The Jenin Brigade, an umbrella group that covers different armed factions, said one of its members had been killed.
The critically wounded man was identified by Wissam Baker, the head of Jenin’s main hospital, as a health official.
More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in clashes since the beginning of the year. Most of the deaths have come since March, when the Israeli army launched a crackdown in the West Bank following a series of attacks by Palestinian militants in Israel, in which 19 people were killed.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the Palestinian president’s spokesperson, blamed Israel, which he said had “crossed all red lines” and the Palestinian Authority would not allow the situation to continue.
The cities of Jenin and Nablus, both home to sprawling refugee camps, have been at the centre of the violence. But there have been incidents in other parts of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with two Israeli soldiers killed this week.
Roads into Nablus were closed off during the week with heavy security checks put in place and on Friday the military said troops carried out an operation in the city and arrested two people suspected of firing on them.
Both the Israeli military and Palestinian officials say groups of young armed men in Nablus and Jenin, often only loosely associated with established political movements, have been at the forefront of clashes with the military.
Tensions have also been worsened by repeated clashes between Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Palestinians, with both sides coming under attack at different times.
Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza – areas that Palestinians want for an independent state – in a 1967 Middle East war.
On Thursday, Defence Minister Benny Gantz said more forces would be deployed to the “centres of friction” but there has been little sign of any concerted political effort to end the violence ahead of an Israeli general election on Nov. 1.
(Reporting by Ali Sawafta, Writing by James Mackenzie,; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
