Some 3,000 Palestinians staying in the refugee camp in Jenin, northern West Bank, have left the camp in the face of a major operation by the Israeli army.
Measures are being taken to accommodate the displaced refugees in schools and other buildings in the city, a Palestinian official reported.
The Israeli army’s operation is one of the largest in the occupied West Bank in years. Israel has deployed hundreds of soldiers who have been engaged in firefights since the night of Sunday to Monday. At least eight Palestinians have been killed. According to Palestinian information, some 80 people also sustained injuries, 17 of them in serious condition.
A spokesman for the Israeli forces said earlier on Monday that the operation could continue for days if necessary.
The Israeli army is also carrying out airstrikes on Jenin. The Israelis see the refugee camp there as a terrorist stronghold and conduct regular raids there. Some 14,000 refugees live close together and there are many militant groups. Israeli forces say one of the drone attacks, for example, hit a command centre of the Jenin Brigades, a Palestinian group that opposes the Israeli occupation.
The Israelis are said to be launching the major raid now as the number of attacks by Palestinians had increased in recent weeks. The targets of the operation reportedly include a weapons cache. According to the Jenin city administration, the Israelis drove into the refugee camp with bulldozers and cut off the water supply.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has broken off contact and security cooperation with the Israelis out of outrage at the attacks. He did the same last January after a deadly raid on the Jenin refugee camp. Abbas met with other Palestinian leaders on Monday night to discuss the situation.
Two weeks ago, three Palestinians were also killed near Jenin by an Israeli drone attack.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 182 Palestinians, 25 Israelis, 1 Ukrainian and 1 Italian this year, according to a count by French news agency AFP.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. Hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers now live there in settlements that are illegal under international law.
