Israel right now is NOT a country at peace with it’s Arab neighbors and Internally…..
Israel launched its most intense airstrikes on the occupied West Bank in nearly two decades on Monday, and sent hundreds of ground troops into the narrow streets and alleys of the crowded Jenin refugee camp, saying it was trying to root out armed militants after a year of escalating violence there.
The Israeli military said the operation began shortly after 1 a.m. and included several missiles fired by drones. Military officials said the operation was focused on militant targets in the refugee camp, an area of less than a quarter of a square mile abutting the city of Jenin, with about 17,000 residents.
At least eight Palestinians were killed, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
“The camp is a war zone in the full meaning of the word,” Muhammad Sbaghi, a member of the local committee that helps administer the camp, said after the operation began on Monday.
The military said a drone attack struck a joint operations center used by militants of a group known as the Jenin Brigade in the refugee camp, and that Israeli forces also targeted a facility for weapons production and explosive device storage. Gunfire echoed through the camp as Israeli troops and armored vehicles went in, and the military said they had located and confiscated caches of weapons, hundreds of explosive devices and an improvised rocket launcher…
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Tensions have escalated in the area recently, with local Palestinian militias waging a series of attacks against Israelis, and extremist Jewish settlers rampaging through Palestinian villages and setting fire to property. There have been almost daily raids by the Israeli military to arrest Palestinians suspected of armed activity….
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Israel estimates that there are hundreds of armed Palestinians in the Jenin area. The city is a stronghold of the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad group and Hamas, the Palestinian Authority’s main rival, which controls Gaza. Israeli military officials say more than 50 shooting attacks have been carried out from the Jenin area against Israeli targets in the past six months….
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The operation on Monday appeared to have broad political support in Israel, as the opposition leader, the centrist Yair Lapid, voiced his backing for it.
“This is a justified step against a terror infrastructure based on accurate and high-quality intelligence,” he wrote on Twitter.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced a different kind of pressure on Monday, as thousands of people gathered at Israel’s main international airport, some blocking traffic or scuffling with the police, to protest his plan to weaken the judiciary. The prime minister had put the plan on hold in the face of widespread opposition, but talks seeking a compromise broke down last month…..