In the days since a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip took effect, Israel has turned its attention to a Palestinian town about 120 km northeast of the enclave – a city with a long history of resistance and activist activity.
On Wednesday, as part of its troops withdrew from Gaza, the Israeli army said it was continuing its operation in Jenin, a city in the northern West Bank occupied by Israel. The city has for decades been a hotbed of militancy and a target of raids by Israeli security forces.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, Hamas has become increasingly popular and asserted its presence in the West Bank. Iran – which supports Hamas and other militant groups in the region – has flooded the territory with weapons. And the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank in coordination with Israel, has seen its tenuous influence diminish even further.
Today, Israel appears to be focusing its attention on the West Bank, and Jenin in particular. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel’s latest operation aims to “eradicate terrorism” and will be “large and significant.”
Here’s what you need to know about Jenin and the latest Israeli operation there.
What’s going on?
On Wednesday, an Israeli army spokeswoman said 10 militants had been “hit” during the operation in Jenin, without giving further details. Earlier, Israel said it had killed eight militants since the raid began.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said 10 people had been killed in Jenin and its outskirts since the raid began. And Palestinian officials cited by Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, said at least four people were injured in the city on Wednesday.
Other West Bank towns have also been targeted in raids. The Palestinian Authority’s prisoners’ affairs committee said Israeli forces had arrested at least 25 Palestinians across the West Bank since Tuesday evening.
Why is Israel targeting the West Bank?
Since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has lost support to factions like Hamas that favor armed struggle and actively fight Israel, according to a survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.
At the same time, deadly Israeli raids and attacks by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank have intensified. Israeli leaders say the military raids are aimed at combating terrorism in the region.
Lt. Col. Herzi Halevi, outgoing Israeli army chief of staff, said in a speech Tuesday that his forces have killed 794 militants in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war. “In most cases, we thwarted the threat in advance before the terrorists could reach Israeli citizens,” he explained.
Who arms the militants?
Iran operates a clandestine smuggling route across the Middle East, employing intelligence agents, militants and criminal gangs to deliver weapons to Palestinians in the West Bank, U.S., Israeli officials say and Iran. The aim is to foment unrest against Israel by flooding the territory with weapons, Iranian officials said.
Israeli security forces have carried out a large-scale crackdown in the West Bank, saying it was part of Israel’s counterterrorism efforts against Hamas and other armed factions.
What are the Palestinian leaders doing?
The Palestinian Authority is the governing body in certain areas of the occupied West Bank. In December, its security forces began cracking down on activists in and around Jenin, where authorities lost control. The region is known as a stronghold of militant groups, including Hamas, which call for armed resistance against Israel.
The Palestinian Authority emerged from a peace process between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the 1990s that was supposed to lead to the creation of a Palestinian state, but which never came to fruition.
In practice, the Israeli army – the force occupying the territory – exercises security control over Palestinian towns. The Palestinian Authority handles some local issues, including waste collection, education, hospitals and schools, and has its own security forces that coordinate with their Israeli counterparts but have limited authority.
Jenin has long been a symbol of resistance.
The city’s reputation for resistance dates back to the 1930s, when Palestinians took up arms against British rule in Palestine during what was known as the the arab revolt.
Later, following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War that surrounded the creation of modern Israel and the flight or expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, Jenin cemented its reputation as a city that never capitulated when Palestinian fighters, supported by Iraqi soldiers, repelled an Israeli attempt to seize it.
The city is home to one of the first refugee camps created for Palestinians displaced by this war.
In 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank after a war with neighboring Arab states. Jenin’s current resonance, for both Palestinians and Israelis, stems largely from the second Intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation in the early 2000s.
Israelis remember the city as a source of dozens of suicide bombers sent into Israel around that time, and Palestinians remember a 10-day battle in 2002 between militants and Israeli forces that killed 52 Palestinians, almost half of whom could be civilians, according to The United Nations.
Jenin has often been the target of raids by Israeli forces. Hamas, which controls Gaza, and the militant group Islamic Jihad have recruited in Jenin. And in recent years, new militias loosely affiliated with more established groups have emerged among a younger generation frustrated by a Palestinian leadership they view as corrupt and supportive of the Israeli occupation.
Lara Jakes, Raja Abdulrahim, Isabelle Kershner, Erika SalomonAnd Aaron Boxerman reports contributed.
