UPDATES WITH DETAILS, CHANGES DECK
By Qais Abu Samra
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Israeli army forces raided the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Thursday amid clashes with Palestinian residents, according to witnesses.
Several houses and shops were vandalized during the raid while eight Palestinians were detained before Israeli forces withdrew from the camp, witnesses said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its medics treated a Palestinian from gunshot wounds in Jenin.
The Israeli army said a soldier was killed and 12 others were injured, including one seriously, during the raid in Jenin.
The injuries occurred when an Israeli armored personnel carrier hit a roadside bomb in the city, The Times of Israel newspaper reported.
Thursday’s raid came hours after Israeli forces arrested two Palestinians during an incursion into the same city Wednesday night.
The Israeli military has been regularly conducting raids in the West Bank over the past few years, which escalated with the start of the war on Gaza last October. Palestinians have also faced violent attacks from illegal settlers.
At least 553 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 5,300 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.
Israel stands accused of “genocide” at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara