Israel’s army on Wednesday declared the end of a two-day operation in the Jenin area of the occupied West Bank during which 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed.
“The operation is officially over and the soldiers have left the Jenin area,” a military spokeswoman told AFP.
The Israeli military launched the raid on the Jenin refugee camp early on Monday under the orders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government.
The raid, Israel’s biggest military operation in years in the West Bank, employed hundreds of troops as well as drone strikes and army bulldozers that ripped up streets.]
According to AFP, Israeli forces began to withdraw from the Jenin area late Tuesday.
After intercepting five rockets fired at Israel from the blockaded Palestinian enclave, Israel conducted air strikes on Gaza.
According to a Palestinian security source, the attack targeted a military base of the militant group Hamas in northern Gaza but resulted in no injuries.
The army said it discovered militant hideouts, arms depots, and an underground shaft used to store explosives during the raid on the Jenin camp in the West Bank.
The Israeli military said its forces had dismantled six explosives manufacturing facilities and three operational situation rooms in Jenin, and confiscated large quantities of weapons.
The Palestinian health ministry said the large-scale Israeli army assault on Jenin camp had killed 12 Palestinians.
The Israeli army said one soldier was killed by “live fire” late Tuesday.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967.
With the exception of annexed east Jerusalem, the region is currently home to around 490,000 Israelis in settlements that are illegal under international law.
Palestinians seeking their own independent state demand that Israel depart from all land it took in 1967 and remove all Jewish settlements.
