In another incident, a Palestinian stabbed a 28-year-old Israeli man on a bus in the West Bank before being killed by a passerby, the army said. Magen David Adom emergency services said the stabbed victim was treated and taken to hospital. Videos circulating on the Internet show smoke rising from the center of the Jenin refugee camp as the shots echoed in the background. Others appeared to show Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen moving through the narrow streets. The raid came two days after a Palestinian from a village near Jenin shot and killed five people in central Israel, part of a wave of attacks in recent days that left a total of 11 dead. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said 17-year-old Sanad Abu Atiyeh and 23-year-old Yazid al-Saadi were killed on Thursday. He said 30-year-old Nidal Jaafara was shot and killed near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, apparently referring to the stabbing incident. The Israeli army said troops had opened fire after entering Jenin to arrest three suspects linked to Tuesday’s attack. He said a soldier was injured and taken to hospital for treatment. The military said it had arrested a total of 31 suspects in recent raids in the West Bank to prevent further attacks. The office of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced later Thursday that it was spending about $ 56 million in emergency funding for more police and equipment. “A strong police force is the equivalent of a strong Israel,” Bennett said in a statement. “We are using all means and on all fronts to restore security and a sense of security to the people of Israel.” The Jenin refugee camp was the scene of one of the deadliest battles of the second Palestinian intifada or insurgency. In April 2002, Israeli forces fought Palestinian fighters in the camp for almost three weeks. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers and at least 52 Palestinians, including civilians, were killed, according to the UN The Palestinian Authority, which manages parts of the occupied West Bank and coordinates with Israel on security issues, appears to have had little control over Jenin in recent years. Israeli forces operating in and around the city and the refugee camp often come under fire. The militant group Islamic Jihad announced a “general mobilization” of its fighters after Thursday’s raid. In Tuesday’s attack, a 27-year-old Palestinian man from the West Bank village of Yabad, near Jenin, shot dead five people. On Sunday night, two Islamic State supporters shot and killed two police officers in the central city of Khandera. Last week, a combined car and knife attack in the southern city of Beersheba – also by an Islamic State-inspired intruder – killed four people. The two attacks carried out by the Islamic State were carried out by Arab citizens of Israel. President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Wednesday to express his condolences, saying the United States “stands firmly and resolutely on the side of Israel in the face of this terrorist threat and all threats,” according to the White House. . The recent wave of violence has brought the conflict with the Palestinians back to the forefront at a time when Israel is focusing on building alliances with Arab states against Iran. No serious Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have taken place for more than a decade, and Bennett is opposed to the Palestinian state. Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian leaders have held a series of meetings in recent weeks, and Israel has announced a series of goodwill gestures in a bid to keep calm ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins this weekend. They hope to avoid a repeat of last year, when clashes in Jerusalem sparked an 11-day war in Gaza. Following a meeting of the Security Council late Wednesday, Israel decided to pursue plans to ease restrictions on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Middle East war, territories that the Palestinians want for a future state. Israel has annexed East Jerusalem in a move that is not internationally recognized. In the West Bank, it is steadily building and expanding Jewish settlements, which most of the international community considers illegal. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and the Palestinian militant group Hamas seized power two years later. Since then, Israel and Hamas have waged four wars, and Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade in the region, which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians.
Associated Press reporters Areej Hazboun and Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
