West Bank: Israeli army withdraws from Jenin after large-scale operation

The Israeli army has withdrawn Friday from the city of Jenin after a large-scale operation “anti-terrorist” in the occupied West Bank, continuing its offensive in the Gaza Strip, after almost eleven months of war with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

The United States on Thursday urged Israel and Hamas to finalize a ceasefire deal in Gaza, as both sides accused each other of derailing negotiations.

During a visit to Israel, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also called Friday for a “ceasefire now,” saying that “a pure military approach” offered no solution to the war.

The war in Gaza, sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, has killed tens of thousands and caused massive destruction and a humanitarian catastrophe in the Palestinian territory, home to 2.4 million people.

– Vast destruction –

Since October 7, violence has flared up in the West Bank, and on August 28 the army launched a vast “anti-terrorist” operation in the north of this territory occupied by Israel since 1967, where armed groups fighting against Israel are particularly active.

The raids, regular in the West Bank but which have rarely reached such a scale, have concentrated on Jenin and its surroundings, and have been accompanied by significant destruction according to witnesses and AFP journalists.

Smoke rises from the Palestinian city of Jenin during a major Israeli offensive in the northern occupied West Bank on September 5, 2024 © AFP – Zain JAAFAR

According to residents, Israeli soldiers withdrew overnight from Jenin and its refugee camp.

“To date, 14 terrorists have been eliminated, more than 30 suspects have been arrested” in Jenin, the Israeli army said in a statement on Friday, without announcing the end of its operation.

According to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry, a total of 36 Palestinians aged 13 to 82 have been killed by the Israeli army in the northern West Bank since August 28. The army announced that one of its soldiers had fallen in combat in Jenin on August 31.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Ms. Baerbock on Friday that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei wanted to “arm Judea and Samaria (the West Bank, editor's note) like Gaza.”

Israelis demonstrate to demand the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on September 5, 2024 © AFP – Jack GUEZ

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

At the same time, the Israeli army continues its offensive in the Gaza Strip, where the Civil Defense reported injuries in the Israeli bombing of a house in Bureij, in the center of the territory.

– “Blind bias” –

The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data. Of the 251 people abducted that day, 97 are still being held in Gaza, 33 of whom have been declared dead by the army.

The Israeli operations, which have caused a humanitarian and health catastrophe in the besieged Gaza Strip, have left 40,878 dead there, according to the Hamas government's Health Ministry, which does not provide details on the number of civilians and fighters killed. According to the UN, the majority of the dead are women and children.

Along with Qatar and Egypt, the United States, Israel's main ally, has been mediating for months to convince the two sides to reach an agreement.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed US assessments that 90% of the deal was ready.

“It really is up to both sides to reach an agreement on the remaining issues,” he said at a press conference.

For his part, Khalil al-Haya, a member of Hamas' political bureau based in Qatar, said that if the United States “really” wanted to achieve a ceasefire, it had to “abandon its blind bias for the Zionist occupation and exert real pressure on Netanyahu.”

– Netanyahu inflexible –

Since the announcement on Sunday of the discovery in Gaza of the bodies of six Israeli hostages, killed “point-blank” by Hamas according to the Israeli army, Mr. Netanyahu has been under strong pressure to reach an agreement allowing the hostages to be released.

But the Prime Minister remains inflexible, after having sworn to destroy Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007 and is considered a terrorist movement by the United States. and the European Union.

Among the sticking points for a deal is Mr. Netanyahu's desire to maintain Israeli control over the Philadelphia Corridor, a buffer zone along the Gaza-Egypt border, to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons into the Palestinian territory or exfiltrating hostages or some of its fighters through tunnels to Egypt.

“There is no deal being negotiated,” Mr. Netanyahu told Fox News.

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on September 5, 2024, against the backdrop of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas © AFP – Bashar TALEB

Hamas insists on the implementation as is of a plan announced on May 31 by US President Joe Biden, who plans a six-week truce accompanied by a partial Israeli withdrawal and the release of hostages, then eventually a total Israeli withdrawal from the territory.

All reproduction and representation rights reserved. © (2024) Agence France-Presse