(JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Monday night to press forward "for as long as necessary" with the huge military operation in Jenin, which he said had become "a city of refuge for terrorism."
Netanyahu held a security assessment at the Beit Lid base with the participation of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief Ronen Bar.
"Our forces entered the nest of terrorists in Jenin: They are targeting terrorists. They are arresting fugitives. They are destroying command centers and seizing considerable weaponry. They are doing something else—they are destroying laboratories, of an almost industrial scale, for producing explosives, bombs and devices for killing and murdering Israeli citizens," said Netanyahu.
"They are doing all of this in one of the most crowded places on earth and they are doing so with minimal injury to civilians, and without any injury to non-combatants. This is the directive: Take care of the security of our forces and also avoid injury to innocents," he added.
The prime minister said that the operation would "add to the deterrent capability of the State of Israel, both in defending against additional terrorist attacks and in changing the equation in the area.... We will continue this action as long as necessary in order to restore quiet and security for the citizens of Israel."
The Israel Defense Forces began a major counterterror operation in Jenin in the early hours of Monday, including the entry into the West Bank city of significant ground forces.
Over 1,000 IDF troops are participating in the campaign, which is believed to be the largest deployment in the West Bank in two decades.
The military said on Tuesday its forces had killed 10 Palestinians, adding that all of those killed had been combatants.
Israeli troops have arrested 120 wanted terror suspects and are still searching for 350 additional suspects in Jenin, of which 160 are in the refugee camp.
Despite Monday's announcement by Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas that he was ending security cooperation with Israel, the IDF denied ties had been severed.
“The resistance of the gunmen [overnight] was low. They ran away from the targets we reached,” said IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari Hagari on Tuesday. He suggested that the operation was likely to conclude within days.
Some 3,000 Palestinians left the Jenin refugee camp on Monday night to escape the battles.
“Anyone who wants to leave is allowed,” said Hagari, while noting that the IDF had not ordered an evacuation or closure of the city.
Overnight Monday, Israeli forces located and destroyed grenade launchers and IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), and confiscated weapons and other military equipment.
כמו כן, לוחמי מגלן איתרו והשמידו שני חמ"לי ניהול לחימה של ארגוני הטרור במרחב.
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 4, 2023
לוחמי סיירת נח"ל איתרו והשמידו מטול נפץ ומטען במרחב העיר. בנוסף, לוחמי יחידת ניצן (636) איתרו והחרימו אמצעי לחימה וציוד צבאי.
הכוחות ממשיכים לפעול לסיכול טרור בעיר ובמחנה הפליטים ג'נין. pic.twitter.com/mFuwuodzQT
Chief of Staff Halevi visited with troops in Jenin and conducted an assessment with commanders in the field.
ראש המטה הכללי, רב-אלוף הרצי הלוי, ערך אמש סיור והערכת מצב עם מפקד החטיבה המרחבית מנשה, אל״ם אריק מויאל, מפקד חטיבת הקומנדו, אל״ם עומר כהן, וכוחות צה״ל בג׳נין pic.twitter.com/mhZ1gVo44h
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 4, 2023
An hours-long standoff between soldiers and terrorists holed up in a mosque ended on Monday evening as Israeli forces took control of the lower floor of the building.
The IDF said soldiers entered the premises only after an exchange of fire, and found two underground pits containing weapons and explosives.
Forces also located an explosives workshop in the Jenin refugee camp containing hundreds of IEDs, as well as mines intended for use against armored vehicles.
The IDF conducted drone strikes against various targets in the refugee camp.
“We support Israel’s security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups,” a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council said in a White House statement on Monday.
Jenin has been the source of more than 50 shootings since the start of the year, and 59 terrorists from the city have carried out terror attacks since the beginning of 2022, killing three civilians and wounding 14 other civilians, the army said.
On June 19, an unusually large IED wounded seven soldiers on their way out of Jenin following an arrest operation, requiring the IDF to call in gunship support to extract them. On June 22, the IDF also carried out a targeted killing of three terrorists via a drone strike, a tactic not seen in the West Bank in 20 years. That incident was followed on June 26 by the first-ever launch of a homemade rocket from Jenin.
