Israel says it killed Palestinian attackers as Jenin raid continues
2025-01-23
Category: news

Israel says it has killed two armed men, suspected of carrying out a shooting attack that killed three Israelis in the occupied West Bank earlier this month.Qutaiba Shalabi and Mohammed Nazzal were killed after a fierce gun battle with Israeli forces on Wednesday night in Burqin, near the northern West Bank city of Jenin.The Palestinian health ministry says their bodies were taken by Israeli forces and the house they were in demolished.Hamas put out a statement claiming them as its fighters.
Israel has been carrying out a major military operation in and around Jenin since Tuesday.Army vehicles are controlling the entry of medical staff and ambulances to the main hospital, and have blocked access to Jenin refugee camp - home to both civilians and armed Palestinian groups.Twelve Palestinians are reported to have been killed in the operation, including Shalabi and Nazzal, and dozens injured.Israel says it aims to destroy the armed groups here - backed by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad - and stop them carrying out attacks against Israeli targets.It is worried about the West Bank becoming the next focus for Iranian influence and arms.But a show of force here after the ceasefire in Gaza also plays well with those in Israel who not only want to continue the war there, but want to annex the West Bank as well.
Some of those killed in Jenin are understood to be civilians.Ahmed al-Shayeb owned a mobile phone shop - a well-known businessman, not a fighter, locals said.He was shot dead by Israeli forces as he drove down a road near Jenin's refugee camp, with his 10-year-old son Taym in the car."They started shooting, and a bullet hit him," Taym told reporters at his father's funeral on Wednesday."He said 'God, God,' then the car hit the pavement. I saw two army vehicles coming toward us. They started to shoot towards the car, but I jumped out and ran away."Israel's army says the incident is under review.
The roads into Jenin camp - some of them torn up by military bulldozers - are guarded by small groups of soldiers, who raised their weapons when we approached.Fierce fighting was reported inside the camp on Tuesday night, and on Wednesday many residents were trying to leave.One man told us residents were being separated by the army into groups of five, before being checked by a drone, and either arrested or allowed to leave.We spotted a small group of adults and children picking their way past the soldiers, over broken earth and concrete, one man lifting his infant son high above his head.
He told us military bulldozers had reached the middle of the camp, and that he was worried the operation there was about to start in earnest."There are still a lot of people inside the camp – the elderly, sick, and kids," he said. "They can't leave. God help them."He said this raid felt different to the many others Israel has carried out since Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza."It's different this time – they're striking everywhere. It's like Gaza," he said.Next to him, 52-year-old Kefah Sehwal said she had lost 15 members of her family since then."After what happened to [Israeli forces] in Gaza, the reaction is here," she told me. "They're taking it out on us."Israel's Defence Minister, Israel Katz, has talked about a "shift in strategy" for this operation, saying the lesson from Gaza is not just to "eliminate terrorists", as he put it, but to stop them coming back.That plan didn't work in Gaza. It's not clear it'll work in Jenin.