IDF launches major military operation in Jenin, multiple airstrikes

At least 4 terrorists killed as over 1,000 Israeli soldiers converge on Palestinian Arab terror center of Jenin for massive operation.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

The Israeli Defense Forces launched a major counter-terror operation in the Palestinian-controlled city of Jenin, in Samaria, in the early hours of Monday morning.

The IDF confirmed in a statement that “security forces are now engaged in a widescale effort to thwart terror throughout Jenin,” striking “terror infrastructure.”

“As part of an effort to widely thwart the removal of the threat of terrorism in Judea and Samaria, the security forces attacked a headquarters that is the unified headquarters of the factions in the refugee camp in Jenin and the operatives of the ‘Jenin Battalion,’” the statement said.

Israel reportedly launched multiple airstrikes on the terrorists’ infrastructure.

Initial Palestinian media reports said the joint headquarters inside the UN-administered refugee camp had been struck by aerial drones. Those reports also said four terrorists were killed.

The IDF revealed Monday morning that it has deployed bulldozers specially fitted with armor to clear the streets of improvised explosive devices, allowing infantry to operate in Jenin.

Multiple IEDs were detonated during the clearing operation.

IDF spokesman Brigadier General Daniel Hagari said the operation, which includes elements of a number of different infantry brigades as well as special forces, is intended to thwart the capabilities of terrorist organizations based there to continue with their activities and promised that infrastructure for making weapons and bombs as well as wanted terrorists will be targeted.

He also implied that this is only the beginning saying the activity is “part of a sequence of actions that we will continue to carry out.”

Hagari explained that as many as 50 terror attacks carried out in the past two years were planned in Jenin.

The assault in Jenin began with an attack on a terrorist command center that was deliberately placed among UNRWA facilities such as a school and a food distribution center.

Hagari added that the terrorists were surprised by the attacks because they did not realize that the IDF had discovered the locations of their bases of operations in Jenin.

Hagari did not say how long this operation will last, just that there will be a number of operations carried out in all of northern Samaria according to two criteria: intelligence gathered on the terrorist bases and operational timing.

A major counter-terror operation was widely anticipated by Israelis and Palestinians alike as Palestinian terror mounted in northern Samaria. Since the beginning of 2023, 24 people have been killed in terror attacks. The Palestinian Authority has little influence in northern Samaria.

In mid-June, an unusually large bomb buried beneath a road injuring seven soldiers was followed by the launch of the first rocket from Jenin., The IDF carried out a targeted assassination of three terrorists in Samaria with an aerial drone, a tactic not seen in Judea and Samaria in 20 years.