Explosions in Jenin as Israel raids West Bank city for second day

Several explosions were reported in Jenin early on Wednesday, as Israel’s assault on the occupied West Bank city continued for a second consecutive day.

One explosion appears to have occurred in the middle of a residential area in Jenin’s refugee camp, according to footage shared online, triggering concerns and scared reactions from witnesses. No details have emerged on any damages or casualties.

A second blast took place later in the morning, with smoke seen billowing from the targeted properties in more videos published by Palestinian media and witnesses.

The streets near the camp appeared almost deserted, except for Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers which roamed Jenin. Drones were heard buzzing overhead, as well as sporadic gunfire.

A young man from the Jenin camp was wounded by a live Israeli bullet, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said, bringing the number of those injured to at least 20.

The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, reported that Israeli forces raided and searched multiple homes as clashes between the Israeli army and resistance fighters continued.

Meanwhile, the Al-Quds Brigades - Jenin Brigade said in a statement that its fighters directly hit Israeli soldiers and vehicles by detonating a number of explosive devices.

The incidents come as Israeli forces killed at least eight people in Jenin on Tuesday, including two children, a doctor and a school teacher.

انفجار ضخم في مخيم #جنين بـ #الضفة_الغربية، تزامنا مع العملية العسكرية الإسرائيلية المتواصلة pic.twitter.com/yfyjfdTy7e

— التلفزيون العربي (@AlarabyTV) May 22, 2024

Hamas said that the massacre in Jenin was "conclusive evidence of the criminal mentality that rules the occupying state and its ideological belief in killing our people".

The office of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas condemned the raid, saying in a statement that Israel was "killing innocent people, doctors, and destroying the infrastructure of Palestinian hospitals, cities and villages"

Israeli forces also carried out incursions in the West Bank towns of Dura, south of Hebron, and Shuafat Camp, northeast of occupied Jerusalem, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Jenin has been the target of Israel’s intensified incursions after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power in December 2022 at the head of a far-right government, and worsened after the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, which has killed at least 35,647 Palestinians.

At least 513 Palestinians have now been killed in the territory - occupied by Israel since 1967 - since the military onslaught in Gaza began on 7 October.