August 31, 2024
The Israeli army
has imposed a siege on the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank after
Palestinian resistance fighters carried out car bomb attacks against illegal
Jewish settlements in the area late on 30 August.
IDF troops examine the wreckage of a car bomb in the West Bank
settlement of Karmei Tzur, early August 31, 2024. (Photo credit: Israel
Defense Forces)
In response to
the attack, the army temporarily closed the Ibrahimi Mosque and restricted
worshipers from entering, invaded homes, and arrested many people
indiscriminately. A video appeared on social media showing the Israeli army
executing an unarmed Palestinian in the area.
Israeli media
reported that two Palestinians were killed on Friday night while carrying out
two separate operations on the settlements in the Gush Etzion area.
In the first
incident, a car exploded at a gas station near the Gush Etzion junction.
Israeli soldiers dispatched to the scene killed a Palestinian fighter who had
arrived in the vehicle, and who attempted to attack them, the military said.
In the second
incident, a Palestinian resistance fighter rammed a car through the entrance to
the nearby settlement of Karmei Tzur. Israeli troops opened fire at the
attacker. A member of the settlement's local security team used his own car to
crash into him and kill him.
A short while
later, the attacker's car exploded due to a bomb planted in it.
The commander of
the Israeli army's Etzion Regional Brigade, Col. Gal Rich, was wounded by
gunfire in the attack at the gas station, a military source said.
The General
Authority of Civil Affairs informed the Palestinian Ministry of Health of the
deaths of Muhammad Ihsan Yaqin Marqa and Zahdi Nidal Abu Afifa – the men who
carried out the double operation – in the north of the city of Hebron.
Following the
incidents, the Israeli army blew up part of Muhammad Marqa's family home in the
Abu Rumman area of Hebron.
“Security forces
continue to search the village of Karmi Tzur to rule out the suspicion of the
presence of additional terrorists there,” the army spokesperson added.
Hamas and other
Palestinian resistance factions issued statements on 31 August in support of
the double operation. “The heroic double operation that took place tonight near
the Gush Etzion and the Karmei Tzur settlements, north of Al-Khalil [Hebron],
sends a clear message that the resistance will remain strong, persistent and
ongoing as long as the brutal occupation and its aggression against our people
and our land continue," a statement issued by Hamas said.
The statement
added, "This qualitative operation carries symbolic significance due to
its location in Khalil al-Rahman in the southern West Bank, and its timing, as
it comes at a critical moment when we are witnessing the escalation of the
occupation's aggression against the northern West Bank governorates, and its
massacres and genocide in the Gaza Strip."
The Israeli army
launched its biggest operation in the occupied West Bank in over two decades
early on 28 August, raiding Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas with hundreds of troops
and launching airstrikes on the three cities, considered major hotbeds of
resistance in the territory.
The operation
has focused mainly on Jenin and Tulkarem, but fighting is taking place in a
number of other cities and areas of the northern West Bank.
Three
Palestinian resistance fighters were assassinated in an Israeli airstrike near
Jenin on 30 August, coinciding with a massive Israeli army operation across the
occupied territory and fierce clashes within its refugee camps and streets.
In its statement
Saturday, Hamas linked events in Gaza to events in the West Bank and called for
Palestinians to be united in both parts of Palestine.
"This
operation reaffirms to the occupation that it cannot isolate any part of the
homeland, and that the heroic reservoir of our people and resistance in the
West Bank will surprise the occupation at all times and places."
Israel's war on
Hamas and the people of Gaza is now reaching its eleventh month. Israeli troops
and bombs have killed over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, the majority women and
children.
Israeli
forces are continuing their assault on the northern West Bank city of Jenin and
its refugee camp for the fourth consecutive day, WAFA news agency reported on
31 August.
Local
sources reported that additional military reinforcements were deployed to the
Jenin refugee camp Saturday, where Israeli troops raided homes, detained
Palestinian men, and demolished structures in several quarters of the camp.
Al-Mayadeen's
correspondent in the West Bank stated that Israeli troops have completely
besieged Jenin camp and large parts of the city.
Israel's
Channel 14 cited reports of a serious security incident in Jenin camp involving
the use of RPG missiles for the first time by Palestinian resistance fighters
against the invading Israeli soldiers.
Local
sources reported that Palestinian resistance fighters ambushed Israeli soldiers
in the Al-Damj neighborhood. Helicopters have been seen transporting the
wounded from the ongoing battle.
The
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades – Jenin issued a statement saying, "Our valiant
fighters on the battlefield continue to engage in fierce clashes with the
Zionist enemy forces that have infiltrated all combat zones in the city of
Jenin and its camp, using machine guns and explosive devices."
The
Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, issued a statement on the fighting in
Al-Damj, saying the Israeli army's "aggression on Jenin will have severe
consequences. We reassure our people that the resistance, in all its formations
in the West Bank, is in the best stages of coordination and integration."
The
statement added that the Qassam Brigades and other resistance factions have
"prepared themselves for prolonged days of confrontation and
clashing."
WAFA
added that Israeli soldiers have used military bulldozers to destroy streets
and damage electricity and water infrastructure in both the city and the
refugee camp.
Widespread
water outages have affected large areas of Jenin and the camp due to the
destruction of main water lines. Several neighborhoods in the Jenin refugee
camp are facing power cuts after Israeli troops fired on main electricity
generators.
Palestinian
Red Crescent reported that Israeli forces opened fire on one of its ambulances
despite prior coordination for the vehicle to enter Jenin camp.
In
an interview with Sputnik, Jenin Governor Kamal Abu al-Rab said, "The
brutal Israeli invasion of Jenin camp and city is still ongoing, as Israeli
forces are besieging hospitals and systematically destroying infrastructure,
including electricity and water."
He
added that Israel seeks to destroy the West Bank as it is now destroying Gaza.
Rab stressed that “what is happening is part of the Israeli settlement plan to
annex the West Bank," change its demographics, and expel Palestinians from
its refugee camps.
Israel's
ongoing major operation in the northern West Bank is now largely focusing on
the Jenin area after raids in Tulkarem and Fara concluded earlier this week.
The
army claims its troops have killed at least 26 resistance fighters and detained
30 others since the beginning of the West Bank operation.
At
least 600 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the
occupied West Bank between the start of the war in Gaza on 7 October.
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