Israeli forces, backed by helicopter, kill three Palestinians in Jenin raid

Israeli forces backed by a military helicopter killed three Palestinians, including a teenager, during a violent raid in a refugee camp in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Monday, medical officials said.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health named the victims as Khaled Asa'sah, 21, 29-year-old Qassam Abu Siryie, and 15-year-old teenager Ahmad Saqer.

At least 31 Palestinians were also injured in the ongoing military raid on the refugee camp, with six of them in critical condition, the ministry added.

One of the injured was shot by a live bullet in the head, and is being treated at Al-Razi Hospital, while others were receiving treatment at Jenin's Governmental Hospital and Ibn Sina Hospital, The New Arab's Arabic-language site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said.

لحظة تفجير آلية عسكرية محصنة إسرائيلية خلال اقتحامها #مخيم_جنين#فلسطين pic.twitter.com/sicdReb1Ui

— التلفزيون العربي (@AlarabyTV) June 19, 2023

Local sources confirmed to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that Israeli forces used an Apache helicopter to bomb the area with two missiles, half an hour apart.

This bombing by Israeli helicopters is the first of its kind in the West Bank since the second Palestinian Intifada which broke out in 2000.

The Israel military deployed snipers to a number of Palestinian homes, with soldiers firing live bullets, stun grenades and toxic gas, Palestinian official agency Wafa reported.

Five Israeli soldiers were injured as Palestinian fighters responded to the Israeli raid.

A spokesperson for the Jenin branch of the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) said that fighters from the group "directly detonated a number of pre-prepared high-explosive devices in a gathering of occupation vehicles, and damaged a number of them."

The Israeli army said they raided Jenin to "arrest armed suspects".

Local sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that they stormed the house of Assem Jamal Abu Al-Haija, a former detainee who had been released only six months before.

Israeli forces have carried out near-daily deadly raids in the West Bank since March 2022, which have intensified since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power at the head of a far-right government in December last year.

More than 160 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied territories and the besieged Gaza Strip so far in 2023, including children and elderly people.

(Reuters and other agencies contributed to this report)