A battalion of at least 50 Israeli military vehicles, with special forces, invaded Jenin in the early hours of Thursday setting off armed clashes with residents and resistance forces in the city and its vicinity.
The exchange of fire lasted three hours until the Israeli military was forced to withdraw from the area.
Palestine’s health ministry says the Israeli single-day massacre has killed at least nine Palestinians including an elderly woman. A tenth Palestinian was also killed in occupied al-Quds (Jerusalem) during protests against the large-scale invasion.
Scores of others have been injured across the occupied West Bank in similar protests. In Jenin at least 20 others sustained injuries from live bullets, including four who are in serious condition.
The Gaza-based Hamas movement has warned that the response to the massacre in Jenin is coming in a way that matches the scale of the crime.
“The response of the resistance to what happened in Jenin camp will not be delayed,” warned top Hamas official Saleh Arouri.
In a statement, Hamas said the occupation regime saw part of the strength of “our unified resistance”.
“The resistance has no choice but to confront this aggression with bullets and explosive devices, shooting down its planes, targeting its soldiers and destroying its vehicles,” it added.
Palestinian resistance factions condemned what happened and stressed that "the Israeli enemy will pay the price for its crimes."
Hamas spokesman Abd al-Latif al-Qanou said, "The clashes in Jenin, the confrontation with the [Israeli] special forces in Jenin are evidence of the escalation of the Palestinian people's revolution, which will not stop except by deterring the occupation, stopping its crimes, and sweeping it away on the land of Palestine."
He added, "All attempts by the Israeli occupation to kill the morale of our people and break their will by practising the policy of killing, demolition and arrest will not succeed and will not achieve security for its army and settlers."
Al-Qanou pointed out that "the behavior of the extremist occupation government and the escalation of its crimes and its encroachment on our people, our people, and our families will inevitably lead us to the Sword of al-Quds Operation 2 to defend our land, our families, and our sanctities."
"What is happening in Jenin is part of resolving the battle with the occupation."
He pointed out that "the resistance factions are playing a pioneering role in confronting the occupation."
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine stressed that the crimes against the Palestinian people were not to go unpunished.
It called on all Palestinian groups and their military arms to strike the Israeli regime’ sites and barracks, and adopt the option of comprehensive military and political confrontation against continuous aggression.
As for the Islamic Jihad Movement, it affirmed that "the steadfastness of the resistance in the Jenin camp is a clear indication of adherence to the right and defending it, regardless of the sacrifices."
The movement pointed out that "the resistance is everywhere, ready and ready for the next confrontation in the event that the fascist government and its criminal army continue to attack our people, our land and our sanctities."
It also stressed that it will spare no effort to support Jenin and all the Palestinian people.
The powerful Gaza-based movement has called for strong resistance and unification by all fronts against the occupier.
In the new crime in which people were “martyred, dozens injured, and homes and facilities were destroyed,” the Israeli regime “will not pass without accountability,” it added.
The movement has also warned Israel that “our resistance forces will respond to this heinous crime, and let the enemy know that its terror will return to it with fire and hell.”
It highlighted “the enemy's crime of aggression and killing will increase our strength and determination to continue the uprising in all arenas.”
For its part, the Palestinian Freedom Movement said, "What we witnessed was a heroic clash between the resistance and the special force that entered Jenin and confronting it with courage confirms the vigilance of our people and our resistance that will not stop its duty and tasks in confronting the occupation, thwarting its plans, and protecting its cadres and symbols."
It said, "The continuous crimes committed by the occupation (regime) against the Palestinian people reflect the extent of terrorism and systematic crime practised by the occupation."
And it stressed that "resistance is the only option capable of curbing its aggression and stopping its crimes."
In the same context, the Resistance Committees in Palestine affirmed that "the blood of the martyrs will not be in vain and lead to all our people's resistance and heroic revolutionaries on the path to liberating al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the al-Aqsa Mosque and defeating the occupiers."
It added, "Jenin camp will remain a nightmare haunting the Zionist enemies and an icon of the escalating revolution in the face of the Zionist enemy and its extremist fascist government."
The committees stressed that "the Israeli enemy will pay the price for its crimes, and the blood of our people is not cheap, and these massacres committed by the enemy will return fire, anger and revolution in the heart of its alleged entity."
On Friday, sirens rang out in settlements near the besieged Gaza Strip after the resistance fired missiles towards the occupied Palestinian lands in an initial response to the bloodshed in Jenin.
The regime’s warplanes responded with airstrikes in central Gaza but were met with SAM Surface to Air Missiles fired by Hamas.
The Palestinian resistance has used this anti-aircraft missile system a few times before, but reports suggest an advanced model was fired this time.
The SAM missile is used by modern armed forces and reflects the advanced weapons in the hands of the Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza.
The carefully planned Israeli raid saw all routes both inside Jenin as well as the roads leading to it blocked as well as the stationing of snipers on rooftops.
The regime’s forces also prevented medics or ambulances from reaching Palestinians that had been shot.
Thursday marked the deadliest single-day attack on Jenin by Israeli forces in a 24-hour timeframe since records began in 2001.
According to the health ministry, at least 30 Palestinians have been killed so far this year by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. This follows the deadliest year for Palestinians in the region last year.
The ministry also says Israeli forces fired directly at ambulances and medical teams.
The governor of Jenin accused the Israeli military of firing tear gas at the pediatric ward of a hospital, causing children to choke. Video at the hospital showed women carrying children into a corridor.
Scenes from the camp showed the great extent of the destruction caused by the regime in the streets, alleys, and citizens' properties, who had no choice but to confront the invasion.
Israeli media reported that the battles in Jenin took place face to face and that explosive devices and heavy shooting had targeted Israeli forces from all sides.
The Palestinian Information Center monitored the implementation of 25 acts of resistance in the West Bank and occupied al-Quds during the past 24 hours, including 5 shooting operations, the detonation of explosive devices, the throwing of Molotov cocktails, and an attempted stabbing.
The Israeli Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, has issued instructions to raise the state of alert in the occupied Palestinian territories, amid heightened tensions that began early last year and witnessed almost daily Israeli raids as well as an increase in armed Palestinian retaliatory attacks.
As Jenin residents flooded the streets in the occupied city in a mass funeral procession, the Palestinian presidency condemned the Israeli aggression on the Jenin camp as an "organized crime and massacre".
It has announced the end of its security coordination with the Israeli military.
International reaction
There have been many international reactions to the massacre and the escalation.
They include Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has issued a statement praising the heroic resistance of the people of Jenin.
"The heroic response of the people of the Jenin camp and the Palestinian resistance factions in confronting the Zionist terror machine, and their (success in) thwarting the enemy's goals and forcing them to retreat after hours of confrontations" is admirable, Hezbollah said.
The statement added, "Hezbollah stands firm on the hands of the brave resistance fighters who write with their pure blood the dawn of Palestine's near victory, and expresses its full solidarity with the heroes of the camp and all the other resistance fighters in the face of the occupation and its criminality."
Hezbollah also condemned the "Zionist aggression against the camp" and denounced the terrorist practices "carried out by the occupation forces, their storming of hospitals and their brutal assault on the wounded in a manner that violates all moral and humanitarian laws."
A coalition of Yemeni parties also said "what the Israeli occupation government is doing, killing women and children and barbaric aggressive attacks on cities and camps, is taking place in light of the complicity and silence of the traitorous and… Arab regimes, and the silence of the international community on these brutal crimes."
Algeria’s National Construction Movement said, “Jenin's aggression will only increase the Palestinian people's resistance.”
The Algerian political party affirmed that "the storming of the Jenin camp and the rise of martyrs from it will only increase the Palestinian people's determination to proceed with the resistance project."
The Iraqi Scholars Group described what happened in Jenin and its camp as a massacre in light of the suspicious international silence.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, a staunch supporter of the Palestinian resistance, condemned the Israeli aggression and said that "the silence of the West is painful and shameful," while stressing that the Israeli enemy will pay the price for its crimes.
First published in Tehran Times
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