Israeli forces withdraw from Jenin after 10-day assault, raid other cities

Israeli forces withdrew from the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Friday, leaving it in ruins, following a 10-day ariel and on-ground assault.

The Palestinian foreign ministry issued a statement on Facebook following their withdrawal, accusing Israel of using the same destructive tactics used in Gaza on the occupied West Bank.

A witness for the Reuters news agency confirmed that Israeli forces left behind extensive damage to key infrastructure in the area.  

The medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said the assault on Jenin had forced them to suspend their activities there and in Tulkarem, saying the Israeli military had launched "repeated attacks" on health workers, ambulances and medical facilities.

Israeli raids have continued in other parts of the West Bank.

Five Palestinian men were killed in an Israeli air strike in the north of the occupied West Bank on Thursday after an Israeli army statement on Wednesday evening said they had started an operation in the area.

Israeli forces also targeted a car in Tubas, claiming it had struck an "armed terrorist cell".

Palestinian media reported that a 16-year-old boy, identified as Majed Fida Abu Zeina, was shot nearby, in the Al-Faraa refugee camp. The Palestinian Red Crescent said he was shot more than once and that his body was dragged out of the camp by a military bulldozer.

Late on Thursday, Israeli forces also raided the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus, wounding a 30-year-old Palestinian man, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Israeli army vehicles and bulldozers stormed the camp firing live ammunition at residents, with the Palestinian Red Crescent saying their teams had to transport a man to hospital for treatment as a result.

A similar attack took place in Tulkarem refugee camp following a brief withdrawal earlier on Thursday, with armed confrontations taking place.

According to Al Jazeera, a village named Husan, west of Bethlehem, was also attacked, with a 20-year-old woman injured from the shrapnel from Israeli gunfire as she attempted to close a window. The village of Beit Tamar, eat of Bethlehem was raided during the incursion.

Israeli settlers also targeted Palestinian homes in Hebron on Thursday evening in the village of Bireen.

Wafa reported that the settlers were protected by Israeli soldiers, and raided homes belonging to the Azzam and Burqan families, stealing money, destroying property and vandalising items.

Several news reports have described the Israeli military as having turned Hebron and nearby towns into a "large prison" and are enforcing collective punishment by installing military checkpoints and blocking off roads and entrances to cities.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, at least 39 Palestinians have been killed and 150 wounded in the West Bank since the start of the violent Israeli raids on 28 August.

Since the start of the war on Gaza in October, 691 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank.

Jenin’s municipality said last week that the violent incursions had destroyed over 70 percent of the city’s roads, and also damaged their water and sewage networks as well as telecommunications services.