Six Palestinians killed in Israeli army raid in Jenin, including Hawara terrorist
At the same time as the deadly raid, Israel also conducted an operation in a refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus
Israeli army vehicles move along a road during a raid in the Jenin camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on March 7, 2023. Photo by Getty Images
This article originally appeared on Haaretz, and was reprinted here with permission. Sign up here to get Haaretz’s free Daily Brief newsletter delivered to your inbox.
At least six Palestinians were killed and 26 were wounded, three of them severely, during a raid carried out by Israeli forces in Jenin on Tuesday, in an attempt to capture the terrorist who killed two Israelis in late February.
According to the IDF and Palestinian sources, one of the dead is 49-year-old Abdul Fattah Hussein Khrousheh, the suspected murderer of 21-year-old Hallel and 19-year-old Yagel Yaniv in the West Bank town of Hawara on February 26.
Two Israeli counter-terror unit police officers were lightly wounded in the operation, the Border Police spokesperson said.
Another Israeli military operation is happening concurrently in the Askar refugee camp near Nablus. According to the IDF spokesperson, the two sons of Abed al-Fatah Khrousheh – Khaled and Mahmad Khrousheh – were arrested during the operation, for suspicion of helping their father prepare and carry out the attack.
ג'נין, אמצע היום, כוחות ישראלים נכנסו לעיר, דיווח על חילופי ירי עם חמושים פלסטינים. pic.twitter.com/ozu8MftNvM
— Jack khoury.جاك خوري (@KhJacki) March 7, 2023
Following the reported killing of Khrousheh, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement praising the Israeli forces who took part in the operation. “Our brave soldiers operated with surgical precision in the heart of the murderers’ den. I praise them and send well wishes to those wounded among our forces,” the PM’s statement read.
The parents of Hallel and Yagel Yaniv also responded to the news, praising the Israeli forces and saying that they have been “relieved” to hear that the assailant was “assassinated rather than arrested.”
Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesperson of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called Israel’s actions in Jenin a “heinous crime [which] proves that that the Israeli government intentionally sets out to derail efforts to achieve calm and stability,” and called on the U.S. to take immediate action to stop Israel’s “aggression.”
Jenin Governor Akram Rajoub told radio al-Shams that the Israeli operation in Jenin proves that there aren’t any understandings or agreements to calm the tensions, adding that if there were any agreements in Aqaba “then they stayed in Aqaba,” referring to last week’s meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Jordan.
“I, as a governor, don’t know anything about understandings or reliefs. What Israel did today is a continuation of its crimes that will only escalate tensions,” he said.
A few hours after the two brothers were killed in Hawara last month, a large group of settlers entered Hawara, killing one Palestinian, injuring dozens and setting dozens of cars and houses in the village on fire.
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