Ramallah: One militant was killed and several others were injured after Palestinian security forces clashed with armed Palestinian factions in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian medical source said.
Palestinian security forces laid siege to the refugee camp on Saturday after militants affiliated with the “Jenin Brigade” of the Islamic Jihad Movement and other Palestinian factions seized two vehicles belonging to the Palestinian Authority on December 5, according to the source, who requested anonymity.
During the armed clashes between militants inside the camp and Palestinian security forces, one militant was killed by the security forces’ gunfire, while several others were injured. Five members of the Palestinian security forces were also injured, the source said.
Anwar Rajab, spokesperson for the Palestinian security forces, confirmed in a statement that the forces had launched a campaign in Jenin to maintain public security.
He said the campaign “aims to restore the Jenin camp from the influence of lawbreakers, who have disrupted the daily life of citizens and deprived them of their right to receive public services freely and safely”.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has been fighting Israeli forces in Gaza for more than a year, condemned the Palestinian Authority (PA) for the Jenin operation and its allied group Islamic Jihad called for a day of protests.
The medical source, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said one body was brought to Jenin’s Ibn Sina hospital on Saturday.
Several wounded people, both militants and PA personnel, also arrived at the hospital, said the source.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and has a presence in the West Bank too, identified the dead man as Yazid Jaaysa, saying he was a “resistance fighter”.
Jenin has also been a hotbed of conflict between the Palestinian militant groups and the Israeli military in recent years. Since March 2022, Jenin and outlying areas in the north of the West Bank have drawn intensified Israeli raids after a spate of Palestinian street attacks.
Tensions in Jenin escalated on December 5 after armed men seized two official PA vehicles and paraded through the camp waving flags of the Islamic Jihad group.
On Thursday, the PA admitted responsibility for the killing of a 19-year-old man in Jenin three days before.
The PA has partial administrative authority in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
(IANS)
