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Smoke billowing over Jenin during IDF counterterrorism operation (Photo: AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) |
"The
Palestinian belligerents, likely shocked by the aerial strikes and the
rapid entry of IDF ground forces, have fled -- gone into hiding,
avoiding confrontations with IDF forces while lurking inside the houses
and alleys of the refugee camp. Forces will likely employ some creative
ruse to compel the terrorists to reveal themselves and increase the
number of casualties among them."
"Such
a move would carry a much greater risk for the IDF, Shin Bet and Border
Police fighters operating in the camp. The intensification of friction
poses a dangerous threat to both sides, and this must also be taken into
account because any escalation could shift the ongoing offensive from a
net plus to a negative."
YNet News
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IDF soldiers take up a defensive position in the Jenin
refugee camp on July 4, 2023 during a large-scale IDF operation in the
area. (photo credit: YONAH JEREMY BOB)
|
Palestinian
terrorists will not be dissuaded from their mission to murder Jews in
Israel. One attack after another taking place in Israel and celebrated
by Palestinians as another notch in their goal to enact acts of terror
inspired by their exposure from cradle to grave by Palestinian leaders
that it is their duty as loyal Palestinians determined to rout Jews from
the ancient Judaean land in a reborn Israel to free it for their own
aspirations to establish a Palestinian state. The fiction the West is so
fond of, that reason will prevail and a peace agreement between the
antagonists will lead to a two-state solution is a fantasy.
But
it is a fantasy held dear to the hearts of Western democracies that
don't have to deal day-by-day with the constant threat of terrorist acts
from their neighbours. Neighbours who are encouraged by the West
through their charitable funding of the Palestinian Authority for whom
it remains a sacred duty to not only incentivize its citizens to become
terrorists, but to reward them financially when they do, whether or not
they succeed in their killing missions.
The
irony is that the Palestinians convince the world at large that they
are victims of an Israel that threatens to obliterate them. Israel thus
becomes the aggressor when it defends itself and its citizens from the
depredations of a hostile, death-delivering Palestinian horde that never
tires of celebrating its intentions to destroy Israel. Photographs of
children being indoctrinated into a lifelong mission of 'resistance'
against 'occupation' fail to convince the West that the Palestinian
leadership is at fault, nor does the fact that terrorists are rewarded
and memorialized as heroes.
When
Israel finally determines it is time to respond to violent
provocations, the foreign press speak of 'Palestinian militants', never
of terrorists, and emphasize the death of Palestinians, cautioning
Israel's defence forces and its government that the world is watching --
and judging. Sympathy goes to the grieving families of Palestinian
'fighters', trained in strategic guerilla tactics aimed directly at
Israeli civilians. Now, Israel has launched another raid in the city
that calls itself a 'refugee camp' to root out the 'militias' plotting
Israel's destruction.
With
the IDF strike force of 2,000 soldiers there were targeted drone
strikes in Jenin along with the ground forces. In the northern West Bank
(occupied by Palestinians) Jenin is a densely populated city,
used as a base by groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad; one of the
most volatile areas of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Israeli
army launched a drone strike on a command centre in Jenin, then sent in
troops and bulldozers. Operated by the Jenin Brigades, a unit formed of
various Palestinian terror groups, the building was one of the targets.
The focus was on finding and confiscating or destroying weapons. "We're acting against specific targets. We're not planning to hold ground",
explained Lt.Col. Richard Hecht, a spokesman for the Israeli military.
Israel's government has faced intense pressure from Israelis for a
tougher reaction on terrorist groups embedded in Jenin from which
numerous deadly attacks on Israelis have been launched. The ember that
finally launched the fire of response was the killing of four Israelis
in the settlement of Eli, in the Palestinian-occupied West Bank.
In
the IDF action, the largest in decades, there was purpose: multiple
streets were blown up or chopped,
depending on whether they had been bulldozed or set off by the IDF’s
bomb squads while other streets nearby remained untouched. The IDF was
targeting roads with explosives dug into place beneath them.
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| IDF soldier stands in the Jenin refugee camp during a large scale operation on July 4, 2023. (credit: YONAH JEREMY BOB) |
Aerial photographs were released of what the Israeli army called an "advanced observation and reconnaissance centre" targeted
by drones early on Monday. An apartment building in the centre of Jenin
was used by the terrorists to warn one another of approaching Israeli
military forces. Also targeted was a "weapons production facility" and an "explosive device storage facility". Jenin is now known to have surpassed Nablus as the centre of Palestinian terrorist activity.
The
goal of this raid was obvious enough; to stop terrorist Palestinian
groups from planning and launching attacks on civilians in Israeli
cities, such as Tel Aviv, as well as Jewish settlements in the
Palestinian-occupied West Bank. Yet no one in authority in Israel can be
under the illusion that the terrorists, now in hiding, will not emerge
in their numbers, once the IDF has withdrawn its forces, to resume their
Israel-targeting activities. A relative handful of the terrorists were
eliminated in this raid.
 |
| Mosque in Jenin which was used
to remotely detonate the explosive devices against the Panther IDF
vehicle earlier this month (YONAH JEREMY BOB). |
In
the Palestinian Islamic Jihad-associated Al-Ansar Mosque, empty of
worshipers, the door was blown off its hinges to enable IDF entry. From a
window on the ground floor there is a window from which terrorists used
remote surveillance last month of an IDF Panther vehicle, ambushed by
an explosive device under one of
the streets, taking IDF forces by surprise into a battle where
the Palestinians had the tactical advantage
Within the mosque itself Israeli
forces found explosives and weapons, and it became the site of a
lengthy firefight on Monday though it doesn't appear to have suffered any damage other than to the door.
The IDF summed up that it had carried out an airstrike against a joint war room
shared by various armed groups in the city including the so-called Jenin
Battalion, which "served as an observation post, a gathering place for
armed terrorists before and after terror acts, a cache for munitions and
bombs and a communications center."
This is not the first time. It will not be the last time.
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