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Clashes broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank on Saturday (August 31) as Israel launched a military operation in the conflict-focused city of Jenin.
Israeli troops searched areas around Jewish settlements after two security incidents on Friday night. In Jenin, drones and helicopters were seen hovering overhead and sporadic gunfire could be heard in the city.
Hundreds of Israeli troops have been carrying out the raids since Wednesday, one of their largest operations in the West Bank in months.
Israel said the operation was aimed at preventing Iranian-backed militant groups from attacking its citizens, but the international community called on Israel to stop the campaign.
At least 19 Palestinians, including militants and civilians, have been killed since the conflict began. The Israeli military said on Saturday that one soldier had been killed in fighting in the West Bank.
Israeli troops are battling fighters from armed Palestinian factions that have long held a strong presence in Jenin and the adjacent refugee camp, a densely populated town housing families forced to flee their homes in the 1948 Middle East war that preceded and preceded Israel’s founding.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Saturday that a child with a gunshot wound to the head was taken to Jenin Hospital.
The escalation of hostilities in the West Bank comes as fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants continues in coastal Gaza Strip areas, nearly 11 months since it broke out, while hostilities have also intensified along the Israel-Lebanon border with the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.
Late Friday, the Israeli army said two people were killed in two incidents near the large West Bank settlement of Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, which the military assessed were both attempted attacks against Israelis.
In the first, a car exploded at a gas station in what the military said was a failed car bomb attack. The military said a man got out of the car and tried to attack soldiers but was shot dead.
In the second incident, the military said a car tried to hit a security guard and entered the Karmei Tzur settlement, killing a man. The military said in a statement that the car was chased by security forces and crashed, and an explosive device inside the car was detonated.
Palestinian health authorities confirmed the two deaths but did not disclose details of their causes.
The army searched the area following the two incidents. Security forces also conducted a raid in the city of Hebron, the hometown of the two suspects.
Hamas praised the “double heroic action” in the West Bank, which it said in a statement was “a clear message that resistance will continue, persist and perpetuate as long as our people and lands continue to be brutally occupied and attacked”.
But the group did not claim direct responsibility for the attack.
Israeli Army Chief of Staff General Herzi Halevi said on Saturday that Israel will step up its defensive measures as well as offensive operations similar to the Jenin operation.
Amid the gunfire, armored bulldozers searching for roadside bombs flattened large swathes of road, and water pipes were damaged, flooding some areas.
Since Hamas attacked Israel last October, sparking the Gaza war, Palestinians have counted at least 660 Palestinian fighters and civilians killed in the West Bank, some by Israeli troops and others by Jewish settlers who frequently attack Palestinian communities.
Israel says Iran is providing arms and support to militant factions in the West Bank – occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war – and its military has stepped up operations there as a result.
Read more by Euractiv
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